Bear Digest

Tyrique Stevenson Injury Means Start Likely for Jaylon Jones

Chicago Bears Friday Injury Report in London: Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson is listed doubtful for Sunday's game due to a calf injury, meaning the Bears are down two secondary starters.

Gene Chamberlain

Jaylon Jones (21) goes through stretching in Bears practice. He'll likely start for injured Tyrique Stevenson Sunday.
Jaylon Jones (21) goes through stretching in Bears practice. He'll likely start for injured Tyrique Stevenson Sunday. / Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
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The Bears are facing a daunting task in their secondary as they head in to Sunday's game in London against Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson is doubtful for the game because of the calf injury that limited his participation in Thursday's practice. He was unable to practice on Friday.

Normally this wouldn't be a problem because backup cornerback Terell Smith frequently is praised by coaches for his effectiveness and level of play near what starters have shown. But Smith is out this week and back in the U.S. with a hip injury.

So the Bears will likely start Jaylon Jones at cornerback.

MATT EBERFLUS SAYS THEY CAN DEAL WITH INJURIES

They already knew they'd be down a safety because Jaquan Brisker is back in the U.S. with a concussion. So, not only are the Bears dealing with their first missed game due to injury among defensive starters this season, they'll likely face two missed starters.

Jones is an undrafted rookie from Mississippi who signed with the Bears in 2022. It's the first time since his rookie year that Jones has had to start. He started four games that season and had a 97.3 passer rating against for a season when he played 464 defensive snaps. He has played just 158 defensive snaps since that season.

The one positive on the injury side for the secondary was slot cornerback Kyler Gordon was able to practice in full both Thursday and Friday and was removed from the injury report. On Wednesday, he had a heel injury that would have limited his participation had a full practice been held that day.

THREE KEYS TO A BEARS WIN OVER THE JAGUARS

The Bears head into the game with guard Teven Jenkins questionable to play with an ankle injury. He was involved in Friday's practice on a limited basis after he couldn't practice on Thursday and had been listed as limited on Wednesday. Jenkins suffered the ankle injury and left last week's win over Carolina because of the ankle injury, and was playing with bruised ribs in the game.

If he's unable to go, he'd either be replaced by Bill Murry or they would move right guard Matt Pryor into left guard and use a different right guard, possibly Nate Davis.

Twitter: BearsOnSi

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.