The Bears will be down at least three starters Sunday against the Raiders after ruling out defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, right tackle Darnell Wright and linebacker T.J. Edwards.
None practiced this week.
The upside is that nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon sounded like he plans to make his season debut after missing the first three games with a hamstring injury. He was a partial participant in practice Friday; the Bears listed him as questionable.
Jarrett played through a knee injury the last two games but now has an extended break to recover. The Bears have a bye week after the Las Vegas trip and won’t play again until Oct. 13.
Wright hurt his right elbow against the Cowboys and will miss the second game of his career. With him out, backup Theo Benedet will make his first career start and likely will spend most of the game going against four-time Pro Bowl defensive end Maxx Crosby.
It’s a valuable opportunity for Benedet to campaign for the starting job at left tackle as coach Ben Johnson reassesses the Bears, including left tackle Braxton Jones, during the bye week.
“We’re going to have a good feel after four games of who we are, what we do well and whether we want to pivot a little bit in certain spots, whether that’s personnel-driven or schematic,” Johnson said.
Edwards will be out for a second consecutive week.
‘Dirty kicks’
Joshua Karty’s knuckleball-style kicks are a big part of the reason why the Rams have been the best kickoff-coverage team in the NFL.
The innovation is to take advantage of the new kickoff rules: A kick out of the back of the end zone gives the receiving team the ball at its 35-yard line, whereas one that bounces in the landing zone and ends up being a touchback spots the ball at the 20.
Bears kicker Cairo Santos used one near the end of the first half against the Cowboys last week in order to delay returner Kevontae Turpin and run time off the clock. He and special-teams coordinator Richard Hightower refer to them as “dirty kicks.”
Santos rarely has tried them in his 12-year career.
“It’s easy to hit it so that it knuckles, but to have control of where it’s going is very difficult,” he said. “There’s a lot of luck involved in that. That’s why it’s a huge risk.”
Santos said the contact is higher up on the ball for that kick; he strikes it closer to his ankle than he does for regular kicks.
Homecoming king
Las Vegas doesn’t produce many NFL players, but Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze is one of them, and he gets a rare chance to play in his hometown this weekend.
The Bears haven’t played at the Raiders since 2021 and aren’t scheduled to visit them again until 2027.
“When I’m going back home, I’m looking to put on a show, for sure,” said Odunze, who estimated he has a crowd of 40 going to the game.
No reason to bet against him. Odunze leads the Bears with 16 catches for 227 yards and is tied for the NFL lead with four touchdown receptions.
Notes
The Bears signed guard/center Trey Hill to their practice squad Friday. He was a sixth-round pick out of Georgia by the Bengals in 2021 and played 25 games for them, then spent the recent offseason with the Packers.
† Tight end Colston Loveland and running back D’Andre Swift have hip injuries and are questionable against the Raiders. Swift is expected to play, but Loveland’s status is unknown.
† Johnson was in grade school the first time he went to Las Vegas to visit his uncle and will “never forget” getting to see Cirque du Soleil and going to his first Hibachi restaurant.