The Chicago Bears have confirmed the worst for second-round rookie defensive end Shemar Turner after carting him off the field in Week 8’s road loss.
Bears head coach Ben Johnson announced Monday afternoon that Turner tore his ACL in Sunday’s 30-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens and will miss the rest of the season.
Turner went down with apparent pain in his knee at the end of a Ravens first-down run early in the second quarter, remaining on the ground for a bit before getting up under his own power and hustling off the field and into the blue medical tent on the sideline.
A few minutes later, Turner emerged from the tent and rode the medical cart into the locker room with a towel draped over his face. The Bears quickly ruled him out for the remainder of the game with a knee injury, a sign that he sustained a significant injury.
Turner — the No. 62 overall pick in 2025 — had started to find his footing in the Bears defense over the past several weeks after changing positions from defensive tackle to defensive end earlier in the season. Now, the 22-year-old will have no choice but to set his sights on next season and focus on his rehabilitation for the next several months.
“It’s a shame that we’re gonna miss out on him,” Johnson said Monday. “He has a physical presence and demeanor about him that you really appreciate. He plays the game that we want. Really all three phases to play. He loves football, and I know he’ll attack this rehab the right way.”
Shemar Turner Was ‘Part of the Solution’ for Bears
Turner did not have the smoothest start to his rookie season. On the first day of NFL training camp, he suffered an ankle injury that sidelined him for the entire preseason. While he avoided the injury list coming into the season, the Bears kept him inactive for each of their first two games — decisions likely based on the time he had missed.
After making his NFL debut in Week 3, though, Turner had begun to make an impact for the Bears defense, even if his contributions did not show up often in the box scores. Johnson made it clear Monday that he believed Turner had been “part of the solution” for their struggling run defense in recent weeks as he adjusted to his role on the edge.
“He was a guy that we were really excited to finally get out on the field because obviously we had high hopes for him, acquiring him with such a high draft pick,” Johnson said Monday. “I thought when we made that transition to defensive end, it certainly coincided with our ability to stop the run at a higher clip, and so we thought he was part of the solution there for us.
“I think he looked somewhat natural to play that spot for a guy that hadn’t done a ton of it, so we were really excited to see what this next half of the season was going to look like as he continued to develop in that role.”
Bears Also Lose Dominique Robinson to Ankle Injury
Turner was the most significant injury announcement for the Bears coming out of Week 8’s loss to the Ravens, but he isn’t Chicago’s only defensive lineman who will miss time.
Johnson also announced Monday that defensive end Dominique Robinson suffered a high-ankle sprain in Sunday’s game and will miss “a few weeks here” as he recovers.
Robinson impressed Johnson and the Bears’ new defensive staff in the offseason and had been having a solid start to the season as a rotational pass rusher, recording 1.5 sacks, 10 tackles, two tackles for loss and nine pressures in his first seven appearances.
While the Bears will get some expected relief this week when Austin Booker returns to the 53-man roster, losing Robinson could hurt a pass-rushing unit that entered Week 8 with the 30th-best pass-rush win rate as a team (30%) and sits 25th in total sacks (14).
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