Bears running back D’Andre Swift will have a chance Sunday to follow up on his best performance of the year. So will kicker Jake Moody.
Swift declared himself good to go against the Saints despite being limited with a groin injury on Thursday and Friday. He had 14 carries for a whopping 108 yards against the Commanders and caught two balls for 67 yards, including a 55-yard catch and run touchdown that ESPN announcer Troy Aikman considered good fortune.
“I made it happen,” Swift said Friday. “I don’t think it was luck.”
Swift first felt the groin injury during Monday’s standout showing.
“Played a good game, and just looking to build off of that,” he said.
Receiver DJ Moore, who hurt his groin area and stayed at a Washington, D.C., hospital Monday night before flying home Tuesday, was taken off the injury report. He’ll play Sunday. He was unavailable for comment.
Moody, who went 4-for-5 Monday and made the game-winning 38-yard field goal, will be promoted from the practice squad Saturday to take the place of Cairo Santos, whose right quad injury has lingered since Week 4. Moody has never kicked at Soldier Field, but practiced there Friday.
DL shifts
Part of the Bears’ run defense solution Monday was to move second-round defensive tackle Shemar Turner to end, where he played all of his 22 snaps.
“He’s got a little bit more weight to him, so that we can combat both tackles and tight ends and hold up and win the line of scrimmage,” coach Ben Johnson said.
Turner was a college edge rusher who converted to tackle before his final season at Texas A&M.
“It kind of can be some foreign territory for some guys that are either moving outside in or inside out, and it kind of felt at home … ” Johnson said. “We’re hopeful that that’s going to take for us, and he’ll be able to help shore up our run game a little bit and platoon with the rest of the crew.”
Something else that could help: defensive tackle Grady Jarrett practiced for the first time in four weeks Friday and was ruled questionable with a knee injury. He wouldn’t say whether he planned to play.
“When you’re not healthy, you got to do what you need to do to get yourself healthy …” he said. “So I’m excited to be where I’m at and excited to get back and roll, whenever that time may be, and contribute to the team.”
OU ties
All six Oklahoma starting quarterbacks from 2015-23 are starting in the NFL this week — including Caleb Williams and Spencer Rattler, combatants at Soldier Field on Sunday.
Williams supplanted Rattler as starter in 2021, prompting Rattler to transfer to South Carolina. Williams later transferred as well, following coach Lincoln Riley to Southern California.
Rattler said this week it was “a blessing in disguise” that he lost his spot at Oklahoma and called his relationship with Williams “cordial.” Williams said he and Rattler “don’t really keep up that much.”
Other former OU quarterbacks starting in the league include the Buccaneers’ Baker Mayfield, the Eagles’ Jalen Hurts, the Cardinals’ Kyler Murray and the Browns’ Dillon Gabriel.
Notes
• Defensive end Austin Booker, running back Travis Homer and linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga are in the window to return from injured reserve and were called questionable. The Bears would need to activate them Saturday for them to play Sunday.
• The Bears ruled out linebacker Noah Sewell, who has a concussion.
• Saints cornerback Isaac Yiadom (hamstring) and defensive tackle John Ridgeway III (shoulder) are the only players with injury designations. Both are questionable.
Jason Lieser contributed.