CHICAGO _ Bears tight end Trey Burton was limited again in practice Tuesday in the final tune-up for the opener against the Packers on Thursday night at Soldier Field.
Coach Matt Nagy said it will be "pretty much a game-time decision" whether Burton will play after he suffered a minor groin strain last week. Nagy said he thinks the injury is "getting slightly better" but the Bears are preparing for both possibilities.
Offensive lineman Rashaad Coward (elbow) and defensive lineman Bilal Nichols (knee) also were limited. Nagy said limiting Nichols was precautionary because the Bears were practicing indoors/ on turf. They used similar precaution with him late last year.
Burton had offseason sports hernia surgery to correct an injury that kept him out of the Bears' playoff loss to the Eagles in January. But general manager Ryan Pace said this is a separate issue.
On Monday, Nagy pointed to his many tools on offense as a reason the Bears would get through a Burton absence.
"I think the beauty of what Ryan has done, and what the personnel has done with this team, is ... we don't have one person that we rely on," Nagy said. "So there's some teams that this happens to and you're in trouble. That's not the case with us."
As the Bears wrapped up practices Tuesday, they were approaching 48 hours to go before the NFL and season opener. The players, many of whom didn't play in the preseason, were itching to play in front of a crowd they expect to be hyped.
"It's like a big heavyweight boxing match to start out _ there's a couple big shots that are taken early on and then everybody settles in," Nagy said. "That's just the nature of the beast. All of our guys, our players, coaches, (should) just understand that, be prepared for it, and don't make this thing bigger than it is. Just play our game, be us. Human nature is to get excited for it."
