The Bears put safety Jaquan Brisker on injured reserve Thursday with a concussion he suffered against the Panthers in Week 5.
The 2022 second-round draft pick, who has missed the last four games, will miss at least four more before he is eligible to return. This is the third consecutive season he has missed games with a concussion.
Brisker, a starter since Week 1 of his rookie season, is a foundation player in Matt Eberflus’ defense who was looking to reach Pro Bowl status in 2024. He has 23 tackles, including three tackles for loss and a sack in five games this season.
He suffered the injury in the second quarter against the Panthers, when he collided with Panthers tight end Tommy Tremble, who lowered his helmet on a nine-yard gain and fumbled after a helmet-to-helmet collision with Brisker.
Tremble left the game with a concussion. He was fined $17,083 for unnecessary roughness by lowering his helmet. Brisker remained in the game, but self-reported a concussion the following day.
Elijah Hicks, a 2022 seventh-round pick, has started the last four games for Brisker.
Poker face
Teammates are probably lining up to play poker with DJ Moore, who always seems to show his hand with his body language and facial expressions. Bears wide receivers coach Chris Beatty is trying to fix that — not just with Moore, but Keenan Allen, too.
Emotion is often vital — it usually what makes guys like them tick. But there’s too much at stake with a promising rookie quarterback in Caleb Williams to let it all hang out at the wrong time.
“It’s been frustrating,” Beatty said. “I’ve got a great group of guys. Keenan’s a leader — the epitome of [a leader], and DJ is, too. We’re just trying to tell those guys, ‘Don’t wear all your emotions on your sleeve and let everybody see what you think.’
“It’s part of developing a young quarterback. They played with young quarterbacks — Keenan with [the Chargers] with Justin [Herbert]. And DJ had a bunch of them in Carolina. That’s part of the process. Our job is to help make his job easier. That’s the big emphasis.”
It’s especially important in this era, with cameras on everybody at all times. A little thing — even a smirk, or what looks like a cold shoulder — can turn into a big thing in the social media environment.
“Nobody wants to see anybody frustrated,” Beatty said. “And then everybody draws conclusions from things … because of the way we’re demonstrating those things. If you know you’re going to struggle a little bit, you want to make sure that you’re composed. We don’t want to give them the answers to the test before we get out there. So we’ve been doing a little more meetings with the players [about] being able to have some ownership of it. And that’s been a plus.”
Injury report
Guard Teven Jenkins (ankle), safety Jaquan Brisker (concussion) and back-up tackle Kiran Amegadjie (calf) did not practice Thursday. Coach Matt Eberflus already has said Brisker will not play Sunday against the Packers.
Defensive end Montez Sweat (ankle), right tackle Darnell Wright (knee), left tackle Braxton Jones (knee) and defensive end Darrell Taylor (knee) were limited.
No excuses for Sweat
Sweat appeared to be injured when he was unable to get back to the line of scrimmage in time to avoid an offsides penalty when the Patriots were spiking the ball for a field goal try late in the first half Sunday. But that was not an excuse, defensive coordinator Eric Washington said.
“The awareness piece has to be there … understanding that situation — two-minute … we’ve got to hustle and make sure we’re in position,” Washington said. “And if there is a situation with injury, then we’re down in that situation. But we’ve got to hustle and get back. We’ve got make sure we’re keeping pace with that situation.”
The Nate Davis fail
Guard Nate Davis was an ominous mystery from time he blew off his first OTA practices after signing a three-year, $30 million contract in free agency in 2023. And he remains a mystery after he was released on Wednesday — after starting just 13 games in less than two seasons.
What went wrong?
“I’m not going to talk about it,” offensive line coach Chris Morgan said. “It didn’t work out with Nate. Lot of reasons. I wish it would have, and I wish him the best moving forward.”