Chicago Bears DB Out For 2025 Season

The Chicago Bears trounced the Buffalo Bills 38-0 in their preseason game last week. The win came with a lot of positive signs for the team as they move into the regular season. The win came at a cost, though. Defensive Back Terell Smith went down with a non-contact injury, and in the days since, the Chicago Bears’ worst fears were realized. Smith suffered a torn left patellar tendon, an injury that will force him to miss the entire 2025 NFL season.

Smith was slated to be the third cornerback on the depth chart for the Chicago Bears. Smith has been pressed into action at corner and safety in his two-year career in Chicago. The 2023 fifth-round pick was going to be a crucial member of the Chicago Bears’ defense right out of the gate with the tenuous health situation in the defensive backfield. The Bears will have to look elsewhere to bolster that unit ahead of their season opener on Monday Ni ght Football against the Minnesota Vikings on September 8.

Terell Smith To Miss 2025 Season

The Chicago Bears got some bad injury news after their preseason win over the Buffalo Bills. In a depleted defensive backfield, Smith was going to have a big role on this Bears defense. Top Cornerback Jaylon Johnson is dealing with a leg injury, and nickel Corner Kyler Gordon has a nagging hamstring injury, so the third-year corner Smith was going to get lots of reps in the defensive backfield. That plan changed when he went down with a non-contact leg injury.

The injury didn’t look good on the field and left fans and team personnel expecting the worst. Those fears came to be when the Chicago Bears announced that Smith was to miss the entire 2025 NFL season after tests revealed that the 26 -year-old had suffered a torn left patellar tendon. With mounting injury concerns in the defensive backfield, missing Smith is a big deal for the success of this Chicago Bears squad in 2025.

Smith has been a critical depth piece for the Chicago Bears over the last two seasons. With injuries to corners and safeties taking their toll on the defense, Smith has played in 26 games in the last two seasons, recording 68 tackles, 10 pass deflections, a forced fumble and an interception as the weak side cornerback and free safety. Coming into his own as a quality defensive back in his third NFL season, Smith was slated to have a bigger role in Dennis Allen’s defense until this injury.

How This Impacts the Chicago Bears

With Smith out for the year, the Chicago Bears will need a new option at the third corner position. The primary candidate is Nahshon Wright, the fifth-year defensive back out of Oregon State. Wright, the former star of “Last Chance U,” might be pressed into action sooner than the Bears would’ve liked. With Week One availability questionable for Johnson and Gordon, Wright may need to step into the weak side corner spot.

Veteran Tre Flowers may be asked to fill in at the nickel corner if Gordon can’t play. With a couple of weeks to go until the start of the regular season on September 8 against the Minnesota Vikings, there is still time for Dennis Allen and the coaching staff to figure out how to deal with the loss of Smith and the nagging injuries to Johnson and Gordon.