The Bears may be without three starters when they take on the Cardinals on Christmas Eve. Left guard Teven Jenkins (concussion), wide receiver Darnell Mooney (illness) and defensive end/tackle DeMarcus Walker (leg) each sat out of practice entirely on Wednesday.
If Jenkins doesn’t clear the protocol, Cody Whitehair would likely start in his place on Sunday. Whitehair began the season as the starting left guard because Jenkins was on injured reserve with a calf injury. After that, Whitehair played a bit at center. But Whitehair was benched after a series of bad snaps and has been in a reserve role lately. According to PFF, Whitehair surrendered three pressures in 31 opportunities against the Browns in Week 15. Jenkins gave up no pressures in 14 opportunities.
If Mooney doesn’t improve enough to play on Christmas Eve, then Tyler Scott, Velus Jones and Trent Taylor would be in line to pick up the slack behind DJ Moore at wide receiver. The Bears targeted Mooney often over the past two weeks, but couldn’t develop any consistency with him. In the last two games, Justin Fields has targeted Mooney 15 times, but they only connected for four completions and 58 yards. Over those same two games, Scott caught four balls on five targets for 60 yards. Jones had one catch on one target for 11 yards. Taylor was not targeted at all. Veteran receiver Equanimeous St. Brown remains sidelined with a pectoral injury that Eberflus deemed a “week-to-week” ailment.
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Eberflus noted that Walker is day-to-day with his leg injury, but it’s looking good for him to be able to play against the Cardinal. He has steadily progressed as the season has gone on, and re-entered the starting lineup when Yannick Ngakoue suffered his season-ending broken ankle. Walker notched half a sack and two TFLs last week.
Travis Homer, Noah Sewell and Jaylon Jones also did not participate in Wednesday’s practice. Each man has contributed mainly on special teams this year.
