Bears tight end Trey Burton has been recovering from sports hernia surgery this spring, and it has lingered into training camp, causing him to miss practices as a result.
Coach Matt Nagy stressed that they wanted to make sure he was 100 percent while working him back in. He remained optimistic that Burton would be ready for the start of the regular season.
But it sounds like Burton’s status for the Week 1 opener against the Packers might be in jeopardy after he wasn’t practicing during the media portion of practice on Sunday or Monday.
On Monday, Bears GM Ryan Pace confirmed that Burton has a mild groin strain, which the team hopes is day-to-day.
“We were smart with how we ramped him up through training camp, just with him not doing a lot of football activities over the summer,” Pace said via NBC Sports Chicago. “This was an unrelated mild groin strain that we’re dealing with right now. So we’re hopeful but it’s going to be a day-by-day thing.”
Throughout training camp and preseason, Nagy reiterated that he believes Burton will be ready for the Packers game. Nagy said the team would likely keep him on a maintenance plan, which could result in missing practice time.
But Burton missing practice doesn’t look encouraging. And with just three days until the Bears open the season against the Packers, you have to wonder if Burton starts the season as he ended it — on the injury report.
