LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The Bears linebacker corps is dangerously thin. Like, shockingly so.
The team ruled starters Tremaine Edmunds (groin) and T.J. Edwards (hand/hamstring) and top reserve/spot starter Noah Sewell (elbow) out of Sunday’s game versus the Pittsburgh Steelers on their official injury report, which was released on Friday afternoon.
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Edwards has been out since suffering a hand injury that required surgery and aggravated a hamstring injury during a Week 9 victory over Cincinnati. Sewell has started for Edwards at middle linebacker since that time. Both he and Edmunds got hurt in last week’s win at Minnesota. Both guys finished the game but did not practice all week.
That means reserves who rarely play defense must play larger roles. D’Marco Jackson filled in for Sewell when he came out of the Vikings game, so he’s seemingly the next option at middle linebacker. Rookie Ruben Hyppolite II has been a reserve weakside linebacker and is likely Edmunds’ replacement.
Cornerback Jaylon Johnson has ramped up his practice activity this week and was formally designated as questionable. Just because he received that designation doesn’t mean he’s even 50-50 to play. As a reminder, Johnson was questionable on last week’s injury report and ruled out the following day. Something like that could well happen again, considering the Bears have two games in five days and have historically used the entire 21-day practice window to activate players off injured reserve. This is Jaylon Johnson, however, so anything’s possible.
Kyler Gordon’s practice window opened on Wednesday and he has been getting back to practice work since then.
Left tackle Theo Benedet showed up as limited Thursday with a quadriceps injury but was back at practice Friday. He was formally considered questionable. So is safety Jaquan Brisker, who missed time earlier this week with a shoulder injury. He was a full participant on Thursday and Friday.
Here’s the full Bears injury report:
