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The Chicago Bears have placed 22-year old rookie safety Chris Conte on the Injured Reserve List, ending his season due to a foot injury. Conte played in 13 games for the Bears this year and he had 28 tackles, 1 interception and 2 passes defensed. He was a third round pick for the Bears last June out of California. The Bears are going to miss Conte as they have really been hurt by injuries lately.
25-year old WR Johnny Knox is done for the year for the Chicago Bears. He will undergo surgery today to stabilize a vertebra in his back. He will have a 3-4 month recovery period if his surgery today is successful. Knox played in 13 games for the Bears this year and he caught 36 passes for 712 yards (19.8 avg) with 2 TD grabs. He also returned 14 kickoffs for 374 yards (26.7 avg) this year for the Bears. Knox has now played in 44 games in his first three years with the Bears and he has caught 132 passes for 2,199 yards (16.7 avg) with 12 TD grabs. He has also returned 54 kickoffs for 1,483 yards (27.5 avg) with 1 TD return for the Bears. The Bears are going to miss Knox as he was the one receiver that they could really count on.
The Bears have lost 25-year old RB Matt Forte for the next 2-4 weeks due to a Grade 2 MCL sprain. Forte has played in 12 games for the Bears this year and he has carried the ball 203 times for 997 yards (4.9 ypc) with 3 TD runs. He has also caught 52 passes for 490 yards (9.4 avg) with 1 TD grab for the Bears this year. The Bears won’t likely be able to replace all of the 123.9 yards from scrimmage that Forte is averaging so far this season. 28-year old Marion Barber will be the main RB for the Bears until Forte is ready to return to action. Barber has played in 9 games for the Bears so far this year and he has carried the ball 76 times for 281 yards (3.7 ypc) with 5 TD runs. He has also caught 3 passes for 18 yards (6.0 avg) so far for the Bears this year. Barber is a power runner, so the offense will likely have to be streamlined a little bit with him as the main man. 24-year old Kahlil Bell will replace Barber as the backup RB until Forte is ready to return to action. Bell has played in 9 games for the Bears so far this year and he has carried the ball 15 times for 57 yards (3.8 ypc). He has also caught 1 pass for 4 yards so far this year. Losing Forte is almost as big of a blow as losing Jay Cutler. The difference is that Marion Barber and Kahlil Bell are legit NFL RBs, while Caleb Hanie is not much of a QB.
UPDATE: (12/27/2011) – The Bears have officially put Matt Forte on the Injured Reserve List, ending his season.
The Chicago Bears have lost 36-year old long snapper Patrick Mannelly for the rest of the season due to a torn left ACL. Mannelly played in all 10 games for the Bears this year. He has played in 215 games in his first 14 years with the Bears. 27-year old fullback Tyler Clutts will get the first shot to replace Mannelly this weekend against the Raiders in Oakland. Clutts has played in 10 games for the Bears so far this year and he has caught 7 passes for 46 yards (6.6 avg) and has 2 tackles.
UPDATE: (11/23/2011) – The Bears have signed rookie 23-year old Jake Laptad to a 3-year deal to replace Patrick Mannelly.
UPDATE II: (11/24/2011) – The Bears have released long snapper Jake Laptad. That shows just ho much contracts are worth in the NFL.
The Bears will be without 28-year old QB Jay Cutler for the next 6-8 weeks due to a fractured thumb that requires surgery. Cutler has played in 10 games for the Bears this year and he has completed 182 of 314 passes (58%) for 2,319 yards with 13 TD passes and 7 INTs (85.7 QB Rating). He has also carried the ball 18 times for 56 yards (3.1 ypc) so far this year. This is a HUGE loss for the Chicago Bears! They will turn to 26-year old Caleb Hanie at QB and he will be making his first start of his NFL career next weekend against the Raiders in Oakland. Hanie hasn’t played at all so far this year for the Bears. He has played in 4 games in his NFL career and he has completed 8 of 14 passes (57.1%) for 66 yards with 0 TD passes and 1 INT (39.6 QB Rating). Hanie has also carried the ball 1 time for -1 yard (-1.0 ypc) so far this year. The Bears will be looking to run more with Hanie at QB.
UPDATE: (11/27/2011) – The Bears have officially placed Jay Cutler on the Injured Reserve List, ending his season.
The Bears have lost rookie starting right offensive tackle Gabe Carimi for the next four weeks due to a dislocated right knee. This is going to make the offensive line even worse for the Bears as Carimi was grading out the best of the bunch. The Bears are only averaging 74.0 yards rushing per game and 3.8 yards per carry, so the O-Line isn’t getting much of a push in the running game. Jay Cutler has already been sacked 11 times so far this year, so this injury could make things a lot worse.
The Chicago Bears have lost 24-year old DE Corey Wootton for the next 4 weeks due to knee surgery. He injured his knee in the pre-season opener against the Bills. The Bears took a chance on DE Corey Wootton who slipped to them in the 2010 NFL Draft because he was injury prone. He played in 6 games for the Bears last year and he had 5 tackles and 1 sack. Wootton still has a nice upside but it won’t matter until he can stay healthy for a while.
The Bears took outside linebacker J.T. Thomas out of West Virginia with the 195th overall pick (6th round) of the 2011 NFL Draft. Thomas is 6’1″, 241 pounds and he runs a 4.68 40. Thomas is a good athlete but he’s a much better chaser than dealing with a play coming right at him. He had 73 tackles, 7 tackles for a loss, 2.5 sacks, he broke up 4 passes and he forced 2 fumbles last year. He played in 49 games (39 starts) in his four years with the Mountaineers and he had 233 tackles, 27 tackles for a loss, 6 sacks, he broke up 12 passes, forced 4 fumbles and he had 2 interceptions. Thomas will probably have to make his money in the NFL on special teams as he has a lot of weaknesses as a defender.
UPDATE: (9/4/2011) – The Bears have placed J.T. Thomas on the Injured Reserve List ending his rookie season due to a back injury.
Starting QB Jay Cutler will be out this Sunday against the Panthers in Carolina due to the concussion he suffered last Sunday Night against the Giants. Cutler was sacked an amazing 9 times in that game. Cutler has started all 4 games for the Bears so far this year and he has completed 68 of 102 passes (66.7%) for 912 yards with 6 TD passes and 3 INTs (102.2 QB Rating). Cutler has also carried the ball 13 times for 62 yards (4.8 ypc) so far this year. This means that veteran Todd Collins will draw the start. Collins has played in 1 game this year for the Bears and he has completed 4 of 11 passes (36.4%) for 36 yards with 0 TD passes and 1 INT (8.1 QB Rating). Carolina only has 4 sacks this year so maybe Collins will have time to throw the ball this week.
The Bears have placed 29-year old linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer on Injured Reserve ending his 2010 season. He played against the Lions last Sunday but he didn’t make any tackles. He played in 14 games last year for the Bears finishing up with 90 tackles, 4 passes defensed, 2.5 sacks, 4 forced fumbles and 1 interception. Hillenmeyer has played in 101 games in seven years with the Bears and he has 382 tackles, 12 passes defensed, 7 sacks, 7 forced fumbles and 2 interceptions. No word on what is wrong with Hillenmeyer but the Bears are going to miss him because he is a productive player.