Bears Andy Dalton, Duke Shelley on Reserve/COVID-19

Andy Dalton and Duke Shelley

Now with Andy Dalton out, again, Nick Foles will play the backup quarterback role to Justin Fields. If this game actually happens as scheduled, the Bears hope to avoid any further injuries with a dwindling 53-man roster. Andy Dalton was questionable for this game already and now his absence is confirmed.

This is highly unfortunate news only one day after Duke Shelley returned to practice from injury. Shelley’s been absent since week 11 and he was going to be very welcome back in the secondary. Now, he and Eddie Jackson are both out and the Bears’ secondary is in rough shape. The Bears also lost DeAndre Houston-Carson for the season with an injury so the question becomes who will suit up in the secondary? They could very well be playing the game against the Vikings with a slew of second-string or practice-squad players.

Will the Bears even play on Monday Night Football? All week this game has looked doubtful and more doubtful. At one point this week, the Bears had almost 30 players and/or coaches out. Some were out with injury, non-COVID illnesses, and others on the Reserve/COVID-19 list. If they can’t put together a full squad or at the very least a healthy squad to play this game against the Vikings, then the loss will be inevitably less-painful.

Andy Dalton and Duke Shelley are likely out in this game now. The players who may return have very little to play for anyway with the Bears almost mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.