3:32pm: The Bears indeed placed Edmunds on injured reserve today as they expect him to miss four to six weeks because of his groin injury, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. Chicago is leaving the door open for Edmunds to come back for a potential playoff run. Meanwhile, cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon will not yet be activated from IR.
Joining Edmunds on IR will be backup running back Roschon Johnson. He and recently activated fellow back Travis Homer were ruled out for tomorrow, so practice squad rusher Brittain Brown has been signed to the 53-man roster, along with practice squad linebacker Carl Jones Jr., to fill the newly vacant roster slots. Tight end Nikola Kalinic and offensive lineman Jordan McFadden have been designated as the Bears’ two standard gameday practice squad elevations who will revert back to the taxi squad after tomorrow’s game.
1:58pm: Although the Bears haven’t announced it, their media website indicates that they’ve placed linebacker Tremaine Edmunds on IR, per Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune. The Bears have already ruled out Edmunds for Week 12 with a groin injury.
If the Bears do put Edmunds on IR, it would require at least a four-game absence. Even if that doesn’t happen, a source told Biggs that Edmunds is likely to miss multiple weeks.
With the Bears at 7-3 and pushing for their first playoff berth since 2020, a long-term Edmunds absence would be an awful development for their defense. The career-long starter and former Bills first-round pick has been a key piece for the Bears since they signed him to a four-year, $72.5MM contract in 2023. Now in his eighth NFL season, Edmunds has been one of the league’s most productive linebackers this year.
Just 10 games into 2025, Edmunds has already matched a career high with four interceptions, and his nine passes defensed are tied for his second-highest mark. His 97.4% snap share ranks third among Bears defenders, trailing safeties Jaquan Brisker and Kevin Byard. With 89 tackles, Edmunds is on track to go over 100 yet again. The Virginia Tech product has recorded triple-digit tackles in all of his professional seasons, but his streak could be in jeopardy if he misses significant time.
Edmunds’ output this year has led Pro Football Focus to rank his performance 20th among 81 qualifying LBs. He and T.J. Edwards (ranked 13th) have formed a top-notch duo when healthy, though the latter is also out of commission. Multiple injuries have limited Edwards to five games this season. Edwards underwent surgery on a broken hand earlier this month, and he’ll miss his third straight game Sunday against the AFC North-leading Steelers.
Noah Sewell has filled in for Edwards, but he’s dealing with an elbow injury that will shelve him for the Pittsburgh game. That means the Bears won’t have any of their top three linebackers this week.
The injuries to Edmunds, Edwards, and Sewell leave D’Marco Jackson, fourth-round rookie Ruben Hyppolite, and Amen Ogbongbemiga as the only healthy LBs on Chicago’s active roster. Ogbongbemiga is the lone member of the trio who has made an NFL start (he picked up two with the Chargers back in 2021), but he has played exclusively on special teams in two games this season.
Probably will play a lot of nickel and dime packages this week. The Steelers will surely lean into their run game.
You mean the Pittsburgh run game that is ranked 29th? I think it would make more sense for the Steelers to attack a Bears secondary that is allowing 7.5 yards per pass attempt (30th ranked).
It’s kind of obvious( To me at least) that if Poles had given Allen as much input into Defensive FA’s as he obviously gave Johnson into the offense FA’s, I highly doubt we would have ended up with Oyedingbo, Jarrett and all that wasted money. I know Allen wanted Hyppolite and lobbied for him because he wanted LB’s with speed. I’m pretty sure ( At least I hope) that Brisker is probably gone, Byard is back, Hicks is gone ( He rots), Edmunds stays and all of the CB’s can be a little healthier next year. Smith is probably gone, He’s never around either and they’ll have depth there again. Turner and Oyedingbo probably aren’t starting the season so that’s money they’re not getting back. If they could trade DJ Moore and Kmet and get a couple of picks, Some creative trading back in the draft, Save that money draft a Safety, RB and Edge bring back Gardner-Johnson and it’s not all bad going forward. Hopefully they can stay afloat until the DB’s and LB’s are back and they may make the Playoffs yet.
I don’t understand why so many Bears fans want to see Kmet traded. He’s a good solid TE and a far superior #2 option than Durham Smythe.
Because blocking TE’s don’t make 11 million a year. They make much less. Draft one and save money.They need Cap Space more than money thanks to a couple of bad decisions this year.
Kmet can be effective as more than just a blocking TE but the Bears really haven’t had to use him in that way.
Yeah, Edmunds has been a starter for three years with the Bears, but it wasn’t til this year, in Dennis Allen’s defense, that he really stepped up and started earning the huge deal he signed. Losing him hurts, but the unsung hero, ever since he signed a very affordable deal, has been Edwards.
Is it really his fault that Eberlose just asked him to stand back there and wait til people got close to him so he could tackle them? No not really. Bears defense has done a great job when it’s all said and done with losing their top 4 CB’s and a promising rookie for most of the year don’t you think?
More than half of their starting defense is out. Overall, yeah they’ve done well.
Yeah that’s true. With their top 4 CB’s and Frazier never even putting on a uniform, Now arguably heir top 3 LB’s out although we can argue about Sewell as I think he’s always either hurt or bad and mostly at the same time, Then add Oyedingbo, Turner and Jarrett either hurt bad or both I think Allen deserves a medal not grief.
Yes, it’s remarkable how they’ve survived. TOs have saved their butts. If they get Edwards back along with Johnson and Gordon, they’ve got a chance to right the ship. And man, you can’t say enough good things about Dennis Allen.
Actually, I can’t think of one good thing to say about Dennis Allen.