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The Chicago Bears are dinged up heading into a critical Week 9 matchup with the New York Giants at Soldier Field, but the health updates across the roster in the Windy City Thursday were almost exclusively positive. Chicago’s running game has come to life in a huge way during the middle of Ben Johnson’s first campaign as head coach, as the team is now second in the NFL at 144.4 rushing yards per game. D’Andre Swift was a big part of that change across two outings against the Washington Commanders and New Orleans Saints in mid-October, while rookie Kyle Monangai notched 176 ground yards in a win over the Cincinnati Bengals last week. Swift missed the Bengals game with a groin injury, while Monangai suffered an ankle injury during the contest. However, the team upgraded both back to full participants in practice on Thursday — a good sign that Chicago’s run game will be at full force this weekend as the team tries to move to 6-3 on the season. Rookie pass-catchers Luther Burden III (wideout) and Cole Kmet (tight end) also fully participated in practice for the first time this week on Thursday. Both are moving through the league’s mandatory concussion protocol. Meanwhile, wide receivers DJ Moore (hip/groin) and Rome Odunze (ankle/heel) were limited participants in practice after sitting out on Wednesday. Bears Must Get Healthy Ahead of Brutal Month-Long Stretch of Schedule Essentially every meaningful skill position player on Chicago’s offensive roster, save for quarterback Caleb Williams and receiver Olamide Zacchaeus, remains on the injury report just three days ahead of the team’s game against the Giants, which is obviously cause for concern. However, if most (or all) can find their way to Soldier Field on Sunday, the Bears have a chance to position themselves favorably heading into perhaps the most difficult stretch of their 2025 schedule. Following this week’s game against New York, Chicago will travel to Minnesota (4-4) to take on the Vikings. The Bears will return home for one week against the Pittsburgh Steelers (5-3) before consecutive road contests vs. the Philadelphia Eagles (6-2) and Green Bay Packers (5-2-1). Chicago’s success over that month of contests will determine both the Bears’ chances at winning the NFC North Division and their shot at a playoff berth of any kind. The Giants (2-7) are the only team remaining on Chicago’s schedule with a losing record, save for the Cleveland Browns (2-7) on December 14. Bears Defense Among Worst in NFL Halfway Through Season Encouraging is the fact that the Bears are coming off a season-high 47-point performance in a road win over the Bengals. Far less encouraging is the fact that the defense afforded Cincinnati 42 points in the contest. The Bears are 26th in the league in total defense, surrendering 368.8 yards per game to their opponents. Chicago also ranks 29th in total points, giving up 28.4 points per contest. The team has afforded more than 40 points to opponents on two occasions this season, last week against Cincinnati and Week 2 against the Detroit Lions. And while those two results have skewed the numbers slightly, the Bears defense has a half-season sample size at this point. What the statistics say is that Chicago needs to get better on that side of the football, but also that the franchise is going to go only so far as its offense takes them. Hence, how important it was for the Bears to get most of their most talented offensive players back out onto the practice field Thursday.
