The Bears placed linebacker Jerrell Freeman on injured reserve last week after he suffered a pectoral injury in the team’s opening game of the season and moved Nick Kwiatkoski into the starting lineup in his place against the Bucs in Week Two.
It looks like they’re going to need someone to replace Kwiatkoski with the first team next week. Kwiatkoski left Sunday’s game with a pectoral injury of his own and Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the team believes it will bring his season to an end. An MRI is set as doctors work to confirm that prognosis.
Christian Jones took over for Kwiatkoski in the loss to Tampa.
Linebacker isn’t the only spot where the Bears are starting to run a bit thin. They saw guards Josh Sitton and Tom Compton leave with injuries on Sunday and they started the day without Kyle Long, which forced them to shuffle the pieces up front on offense while they were doing the same on defense.