Bears get good and bad injury news on Sunday from Ozzy Trapilo & Kyle Monangai
Bears blowout Browns, standout performers & left tackle questions | Preseason Recap
The Fox Chicago sports team recaps a Bears blowout victory over the Browns in the preseason opener at Soldier Field. Cassie Carlson and Anthony Herron break down the left tackle competition and who stood out to them in the Bears decisive victory. Devan Kaney has a report from Soldier Field, and you’ll hear from Tyson Bagent, Ben Johnson, Kaden Davis and Malik Muhammad. Plus, the crew looks ahead to joint practices this week against the Bengals in Cincinnati.
The Chicago Bears got good news and some bad news on the injury front Sunday.
The good news is the player that looked like the left tackle of the future was back in uniform on Sunday.
The bad news is a potential big factor in the Bears' running game could miss time with an injury.
Ozzy's back:
The Bears officially activated left tackle Ozzy Trapilo off of the physically unable to perform list on Sunday.
This is a massive development for Trapilo, who was expected to be out until late in the 2026 NFL season with a ruptured patellar tendon that he suffered in the Bears' playoff win over the Green Bay Packers in January.
Instead, Trapilo was back at practice on Sunday.
"Can you believe it?" Bears offensive guard Joe Thuney said. "It's awesome."
Ruptured patellar tendons are one of the most difficult injuries to recover from as an offensive lineman. According to the National Library of Medicine, the mean time for an offensive lineman to return to play from a torn patellar injury was 356.9 days.
That's nearly an entire year. Trapilo is back to the practice field in less than nine months.
Bears coach Ben Johnson alluded to Trapilo's potential return last week, mentioning how well Trapilo was doing in his rehab.
"He's hitting his hurdles," Johnson said on Thursday. "He's doing a good job."
When asked about his quick rehab, Johnson spent time praising the Bears' offensive tackle and how he approached the work ahead of him following a surgery the Bears expected to keep him out for a long period of time.
"I mean, he's been attacking this thing head-on," Johnson said. "He's been here pretty much all summer. I've gotten to see him every single day, it seems like. He's doing a great job with the rehab process. So, like I said, there's still a lot of things that he's got to hit in terms of making himself available for practice, but he's done a really nice job with the rehab."
The Bears also waived defensive back K.C. Eziomume, wide receiver Kyron Hudson and safety Gervarrius Owens with an Injury Settlement.
The other side:
Unfortunately, it wasn't all good news.
Bears' second-year running back Kyle Monangai got mixed up with defensive tackle Grady Jarrett during a practice drill on Sunday. Monangai went down after with an apparent right knee injury.
While Monangai was able to walk to the building under his own power after the play, it's a development to watch as Monangai figured to be an important piece of the Bears' offense in 2026.
Monangai was one of a handful of offensive players that did not participate in the Bears' preseason win over the Browns on Saturday.