Bears defensive coordinator Denis Allen rallied the troops or sounded the battle cry before practice, depending on your viewpoint, as he discussed all of the practice injuries so far on defense.
He might as well have been talking about the offense, too. Wide receiver Luther Burden III and his replacement, Zavion Thomas are both out now. Thomas was the last to go. The rookie left practice Sunday early with what looked like a lower leg injury, and Thomas’ injury is a groin strain according to an ESPN report. Neither looked that serious when they occurred and none of the injuries the Bears have had except Coby Bryant’s leg injury have been classified as longer-term problems.
However, it’s defense where most of the problem has been and particularly the secondary. On Sunday this seemed to have spread to linebacker. Neither D’Marco Jackson nor T.J. Edwards could practice. Both had injuries earlier in camp and it’s possible they were held out simply because storms forced practice indoors to the Walter Payton Center and often coaches will spare players with injuries the added stress of playing on artificial turf. As a result, Jack Sanborn had a long stint with the starters in practice alongside linebacker Devin Bush.
Also Sunday, Allen was using safety Xavier Woods in a starting safety role for the first time because of Bryant’s injury and one in Thursday’s practice to Cam Lewis.
Xavier Woods’ big interception
It was only Woods’ second practice since signing, but he seemed up for the challenge. The Cowboys draft pick and former Viking intercepted a Caleb Williams jump ball heaved 60 yards downfield, then didn’t want to come out as coaches waved him to the sidelines to rest after so long of a run. He obliged and left, but returned to line up in back with rookie safety Dillon Thieneman on the very next play.
“He’s a veteran player,” Allen said of 31-year-old Woods. “He’s played a lot of football, been in a few different schemes. He’s been a productive player. (Defensive backs coach) Al (Harris) had him in Dallas, so there’s some familiarity there with him.
“And, I just think, right now, we needed another veteran piece back there in the back end, specifically at the safety position. So, I’m anxious to watch him come out here and compete and see where he falls in the line.”
Another interception was made by cornerback Tyrqiue Stevenson, who twice had to come out of Thursday’s practice with what appeared to be injuries but returned each time and finished the workout ont he field. He picked off Williams at the sideline Sunday on a throw to Rome Odunze.
Dennis Allen’s injury theory
Allen has been taking a beating in social media after all the secondary injuries because this was a situation the Saints had but in this case almost none of the injuries seem to be the result of overly physical practice or asking players to do too much. Some have been complete flukes.
“It’s the nature of football,” Allen said. “It really is. I mean, I’ve said this before. The game that we play is a game of attrition. The more guys that you can get ready to go out there and perform and perform at a winning level, the better your team’s going to be.
“So, at some point, every team faces some sort of adversity, injuries being one of them. I mean, quite frankly, you’d rather have to deal with those things now than have to deal with them in the middle of the season. So, it sucks when guys go down and they miss time. It’s hard to build that chemistry and have the same group going together. And yet, it’s an opportunity for a lot of other guys to go out there and show what they can do.”
In the secondary, the opportunity has not only belonged to Woods, but to rookie Malik Muhammad. For the second straight practice he had most of the slot cornerback reps with the first team. In fact, he had even more of them Sunday than on Saturday as they kept Josh Blackwell entirely with the backups.
Malik Muhammad remains afloat
One play they had Muhammad off the field and their rookie safety, Thieneman, taking the slot was for a slot blitz that completely blew up in the defense’s face with a long gain. Ben Johnson had dialed up a screen pass on the play and Williams executed it perfectly.
Muhammad, their fourth-round pick from Texas, had been up and down earlier in camp but seems to have some momentum now. Allen isn’t about to label him a slot cornerback and this is fine because he probably figures more long term as an outside cornerback anyway. If Kyler Gordon ever returns from his calf injury, Muhammad would be back outside.
“You know I don’t think we’re at that point right now where we’re ready to say he’s this or he’s that,” Allen said. “As a young player here’s what’s encouraging is we continue to throw a lot at him and he’s staying afloat. You know, he’s not drowning yet, he’s staying afloat.
“It’s hard to have guys just be one position players. They have to be able to do multiple things and I think when you get a young player that’s one of the struggles that they have and yet down the line it’s going to be of great benefit to him to have versatility and I think it’s going to be of great benefit to us for him to have great versatility.”
It’s especially a benefit when everyone on defense seems to be getting hurt.
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