The Bears continue to rely on offensive line depth

The Bears leaned on the depth of their offensive line against the Commanders last weekend and may have to do so again on Sunday when they visit the Cardinals.

Because several linemen were injured, the Bears conducted a walk-through at Halas Hall on Wednesday instead of regular practices.

If they had had a typical training session, tackles Braxton Jones (knee) and Kiran Amegadjie (calf) would have been unable to practice and left guard Teven Jenkins (knee) would have been limited. All three were injured against Washington.

Jones left in favor of Amegadjie, while Bill Murray was called up at left-back following Jenkins’ injury. However, Murray suffered a season-ending chest injury and was replaced by Doug Kramer Jr.

“Kiran gave birth to a calf,” said coach Matt Eberflus. “It doesn’t look like he’ll be able to come back from this. And Braxton Jones’ knee – we’ll see where it goes. It’s something I’m working on and we’ll see where it goes.”

The fight against Larry Borom would have had an unrestricted training session on Wednesday. The 2021 fifth-round draft pick returned to practice last Wednesday for the first time since suffering an ankle injury in the preseason finale against the Chiefs, giving him a 21-day window to be moved from injured reserve to the active roster.

On Wednesday, guard/center Ryan Bates returned to practice for the first time since injuring his shoulder in the season opener against the Titans, giving him a 21-day window to be reinstated to the 53-man roster.

Eberflus said that if everyone is healthy enough to play Sunday in Arizona, the Bears will stick with the same starting five they have used in each of the last five games – Jones at left wing, Jenkins at left guard and Coleman Shelton at center , Matt Pryor at right guard and Darnell Wright at right tackle.

Despite multiple linemen leaving Sunday’s game with injuries, the Bears rushed for a season-high 196 yards against the Commanders.

“We’ll stick with the guys who were there,” Eberflus said. They did a good job. We did a good job running the ball. We’ll see where this leads. I don’t have the answer to that question yet, but a really solid job on the O-line and the offensive staff is training these guys, as you saw in the last game, and being able to play with them as we go through this.