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Bears eye NFC North title and home-field advantage this Sunday
FOX Chicago's Cassie Carlson breaks down every scenario for the Bears need to clinch the NFC North and secure home-field advantage.
There was good news and bad news for the Chicago Bears and their injury report this week.
The bad news is a seasonal illness that has gripped Halas Hall will extend to Sunday. Meanwhile, the Bears will get a playmaker back into the fold.
Here’s what to make of the Bears’ final injury report of the week on Friday.
What we know:
With the Bears’ offense finding ways to move the football, the attention turned to wide receiver Luther Burden III.
Burden missed last week’s game against the Packers with an ankle injury. He was limited in both injury reports to start the week. He was out at practice on Friday and does not have an injury designation for Sunday night’s game.
That’s an improvement over last week, when Burden did not participate in any of the week’s practices. There’s a good chance Burden plays on Sunday night.
While it remains to be seen if Burden will play, his counterpart, Rome Odunze, has missed the last three games for the Bears. He did not participate in the first two days’ worth of practices, and didn’t participate again on Friday. Odunze will be out on Sunday.
Linebacker TJ Edwards did not practice on the first two days of the week for the Bears due to a glute injury. He was practicing on Friday, however, and will play.
The Bears are still trying to navigate a seasonal issue.
Dig deeper:
There’s an illness going around Halas Hall this week. That’s why assistant coaches opted for a fist bump because they didn’t want to risk spreading anything.
That illness manifested on the injury report, too.
The Bears were off on Christmas Day, which made Thursday’s injury report an estimation, but four players would not have participated with an illness. Josh Blackwell, Devin Duvernay, D’Marco Jackson and Nick McCloud were all listed as did not participate.
On Friday, Jackson was out at practice. That’s a good sign for the Bears’ linebacking corps. The others, though, are key special teams and reserve players.
"It's this time of year. I doubt we're the only team dealing with it," Bears head coach Ben Johnson said. "We’re washing our hands. We're being very diligent."
It seems pretty straightforward, but the silver lining is that the Bears would rather get sick now rather than in two weeks as they’re preparing for the playoffs. Andrew Billings was listed with an illness last week, and played against Green Bay.
However, the illness issue has created some issues in the secondary.
McCloud will be out this weekend due to that illness. A big injury question this week is C.J. Gardner-Johnson. He was a full participant at practice on Friday, but is listed as questionable for Sunday.
McCloud has filled in at the nickel cornerback position plenty this season, including when Gardner-Johnson missed time after injuring his knee last Saturday. However, without McCloud the Bears might have to turn to Josh Blackwell or Tyrique Stevenson at the nickel.
Big picture view:
The illness is just part of what the Bears are working with this late in the season. But, the same rules still apply with an illness or an injury.
If the Bears are short-handed by any means, they’ll have to make due with what they have.
That’s been the hallmark of Johnson’s first season in Chicago.
"You guys have masks on. You do what you can," Johnson said. "Whoever's available here on game day, we'll look to win with. And if a guy can't go, then we'll be ready."