Bears Fear Veteran Starter Suffered ‘Significant’ Injury: Report

Getty Bears head coach Matt Eberflus has not yet clarified Cody Whitehair's injury status.

The Chicago Bears could end up losing two starters in one week if the latest report about Cody Whitehair’s knee injury turns out to be accurate.

According to David Kaplan of NBC Sports Chicago, Whitehair suffered a knee injury during Week 15’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles that could be “fairly significant.” While the Bears have not confirmed the severity of his injury just yet, the veteran left guard was listed as “did not participate” in the injury report for Tuesday’s walkthrough.

Whitehair is one of the Bears’ most experienced offensive linemen, but he has struggled since coming back from his four-game stint on injured reserve on November 4. He is also coming off one of his worst games of the season against the Eagles, giving up four pressures on 34 pass-blocking snaps and looking pitiful in some of his matchups.

If the Bears have to shut him down for the rest of the season, it is likely they would turn to Michael Schofield III as their starting left guard for the final three games of 2022. That said, Teven Jenkins suffered a worrisome neck injury against the Eagles that sent him to the hospital, which could leave them with two holes at guard in Week 16. In that case, Ja’Tyre Carter or Dieter Eiselen might be called upon to make a spot start.

Eberflus Keeping Door Open for Jenkins vs. Bills

Normally, it would be safe to assume that a player loaded onto a backboard and carried off the field during a game would have to miss some time due to his injury, but the Bears aren’t ready to totally shut the door on Jenkins playing again for them in 2022.

Bears head coach Matt Eberflus would not rule out the possibility of Jenkins returning to practice this week ahead of their Christmas Eve matchup with the Buffalo Bills, but he also said that Jenkins’ status remains “day-to-day” as they continue to evaluate him. The Bears did not practice on Tuesday, but they estimated Jenkins would have been a limited participant in their injury report estimations.

“We’ll see,” Eberflus told reporters on Monday. “We’ll see. I don’t know yet. I don’t know. All those injury reports will come out [Tuesday] or we’ll know more as time goes on. But that’s where it is right now.”

Bears Have Shut Down 3 Starters in 3 Weeks

The Bears have been forced to make some difficult decisions about some of their injured starters down the final stretch of the 2022 season. Most recently, they placed standout rookie linebacker Jack Sanborn on injured reserve on Tuesday, December 20 with a season-ending ankle injury he sustained in the loss to the Eagles.

Chicago has also shut down free safety Eddie Jackson, top receiver Darnell Mooney and backup quarterback Trevor Siemian with season-ending injuries over the past month.

The Bears would obviously prefer to have all of their best players available, but there could be a silver lining to having several of their starters out of the lineup for the final three weeks of the regular season. Out of necessity, the Bears have been forced to put numerous backups — guys like DeAndre Houston-Carson, Alex Leatherwood, Elijah Hicks, Jaylon Jones, Josh Blackwell — to the test with extended in-season reps. Not everyone has thrived with their opportunities, but it likely helps give general manager Ryan Poles a clearer picture of his middle/bottom roster players moving into 2023.