CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears will be without outside linebacker Khalil Mack on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers as he continues to deal with a sprained left foot.
Whether coach Matt Nagy also will miss the game remains a big question.
Nagy was absent from Bears practice once again Friday after testing positive for COVID-19 on Monday.
Nagy must return two negative COVID-19 tests 24 hours apart to coach in the game, or special teams coordinator Chris Tabor will take over as interim head coach.
Tabor ran practices this week, but Nagy has been in virtual team meetings. The pair also has talked through game-day operations details and in-game scenarios in case Nagy won’t be at Soldier Field.
“Coach Tabes has been great with all that,” Nagy said. “We do a lot of that anyway, as … I do with the coordinators. But now that he’s in that role where he’d end up having to be the guy that makes the decisions, it’s just giving him support so that he feels good and understands and then ... You know, a lot of it too, when you’re in the moment, there’s some things you just can’t predict. There’s a feel to it as well, and that’s where that feel will come into play, and we have a nice little plan in place if that’s the case.”
The Bears ruled out Mack after he sat out of practice all week. The outside linebacker, who leads the team with six sacks, hasn’t missed a game since 2018, his first season in Chicago. Nagy would not say whether the Bears plan to put Mack on injured reserve, which would require him to miss a minimum of three games.
“This has been one of the fastest starts he’s had in his career production-wide,” Nagy said. “You feel it. You see it. He’s had a couple weeks there where he’s not been able to practice but he’s been able to strap it up on Sunday and get out there and do a lot of great things. The want is there, but we’ve got to sometimes protect Khalil from himself and that’s kind of where we’re at right now. We’ll continue to work through things with him, open communication and come up with a good plan.”
Bears outside linebacker Robert Quinn and offensive tackle Elijah Wilkinson returned from the reserve/COVID-19 list to practice Friday. But Germain Ifedi became the sixth player to go on the list this month. Tight end Jimmy Graham remains on the list. The Bears also have had another coach and a staff member recently go through COVID-19 protocols.
The Bears listed defensive lineman Akiem Hicks (groin), safety Tashaun Gipson (hip), wide receiver/returner Jakeem Grant (ankle), linebacker Sam Kamara (knee) and tight end Jesper Horsted (knee) as questionable to play Sunday.
