The Chicago Bears' defense has been injury-ravaged in recent weeks, but yet another player has suffered a setback as it appears the team will be without cornerback Kyle Fuller for an extended period.
Fuller, who was injured in the preseason and hasn't played in any of the Bears' first three games this season, reportedly will be placed on injured reserve, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport: [[395008771,C]]
The caveat for the Bears is that they can activate Fuller from IR after eight weeks, and it appears that they intend to do just that with their third-year cornerback. The Bears can only use the "designated to return" tag for a player on IR once during the season, and it looks like that is the direction the team is leaning at this point.
Fuller suffered a knee injury during the Bears' game against the Denver Broncos to open the preseason and reportedly underwent an arthroscopic procedure to examine the damage. Bears head coach John Fox had expressed optimism that Fuller would be ready for the regular season opener against Houston, but he has only been a limited participant in practices and has yet to be active for a game this season.
Fuller's injury is just one more example of an injured player taking longer than expected to return from an ailment in recent Bears history. Second-year wide receiver Kevin White suffered a shin injury during rookie mini-camps last summer, and although the team had been optimistic that he would be able to come back and play, he never did and was placed on injured reserve without taking a single snap in his rookie season.
More recently, outside linebacker Pernell McPhee underwent a knee procedure during the offseason, but he has still yet to return to the practice field and is currently on the Physically Unable to Perform list for the Bears.
