The Bears announced that safety Deiondre’ Hall will return to practice on Wednesday. With that, the team has started a 21-day countdown clock for him to return from injured reserve. If he is not activated within the next three weeks, he will not be eligible to play this year. 
Hall went down with a hamstring injury in the Bears’ preseason finale but all along the hope has been that he could suit up again this year. If the Bears wind up placing outside linebacker Leonard Floyd on injured reserve this week, they could have an open spot ready for him.
Hall, a fourth round pick in 2016, was moved from cornerback to safety this offseason. He played primarily on special teams in his eight games as a rookie and he could be asked to reprise a similar role down the stretch here in 2017.
After putting Hall on the practice field, the Bears still have one IR-DTR spot to use. Safety Quintin Demps will be eligible to practice at the end of the week for the first time since suffering a broken arm in Week 3.
The 3-7 Bears travel to Philadelphia this weekend to take on the 9-1 Eagles.