Bears Tackle Situation Appears in Flux Again

The window to return from injured reserve has opened for both Bears left tackle Braxton Jones and defensive end Khalid Kareem.

Both players are able to practice now and took part in Wednesday's work on a limited basis, although judgment will be reserved until later in the week whether either could come back from e injuries.

Jones had a neck injury in Week 2 and Kareem a hip injury. Getting Jones back would be huge for an offensive line plagued throughout the year by injuries and coach Matt Eberflus detailed what he needs to see in practice for this to occur.

"Just functionality," he said. "Is he functional in terms of his movements and what he's done in terms of conditioning, that would be the second thing. Him working through it. When he feels like he's ready and the trainers say that he's good to go, we look at him ane coaches, we'll give him the green light. But I don't know when that's going to be. He's got 21 days to figure that out. Hopefully, it's sooner rather than later."

It might be necessary this week because Larry Borom has been playing left tackle in Jones' absence but might need to be at right tackle this week because tackle Darnell Wright missed Wednesday's practice due to a shoulder injury that plagued him throughout Sunday's win over the Raiders as he battled edge rusher Maxx Crosby.

"Yeah, he just worked through it," Eberflus said of Wright. "I commend him for doing that. He was in some pain there and worked through it during the course of the day. He pushed through it.

"I know it didn't look, for him, as well as he wanted it to, at times, but again, he's working through that this week and we'll see where he is. I just commend him for gutting it through. Being a young guy like that going against the pass rusher he was going against, my hat's off to him."

The Bears had safety Eddie Jackson back on the practice field on a limited basis after missing Last week's game, Week 2-4 and part of the Vikings game in Week 5 due to a foot injury. Also participating on a limited basis was running back Roschon Johnson, who remains in the concussion protocol but is close to being cleared to play.

Justin Fields (thumb), Nate Davis (ankle), Terell Smith (illness) and Jaquan Brisker (illness) were the other Bears who didn't practice. Dan Feeney (knee) practiced on a limited basis.