Bears place 6 more players on COVID-19 list, 8 miss practice due to unrelated illness

LAKE FOREST – The Bears missed a significant number of players during Thursday’s walk-through practice at Halas Hall in Lake Forest.

Immediately following practice, the team placed six players on the COVID-19 list: tight end Jesse James, linebacker Joel Iyiegbuniwe, receiver Allen Robinson, safety Eddie Jackson, running back Ryan Nall and practice squad receiver Isaiah Coulter.

In total, the Bears now have 12 players on the COVID-19 list, plus several coaches are sidelined.

Head coach Matt Nagy announced Thursday that his three coordinators are all out due to COVID-19 protocols: offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, defensive coordinator Sean Desai and special teams coordinator Chris Tabor.

The Bears held meetings virtually Thursday.

“We’ve got to be smart,” Nagy said. “And the one positive from this is that we did this last year toward the end of the season, very similar schedule, so the players that were here know and the coaches that were here know it and it becomes a lot of mental reps. We’re going to continue to follow the protocol.”

Already six players were on the COVID-19 list prior to Thursday: tackle Larry Borom, tackle Elijah Wilkinson, cornerback Artie Burns, defensive end Mario Edwards, defensive tackle Eddie Goldman and practice squad linebacker Sam Kamara.

In addition to the COVID-19 designations, eight Bears players missed practice Thursday due to an illness. As of Thursday, the Bears don’t believe these players have COVID-19-related illnesses, but they held them out of practice anyway.

That list included tight end Jesper Horsted, defensive tackle Khyiris Tonga, running back Khalil Herbert, tight end Cole Kmet, running back David Montgomery, receiver Jakeem Grant, guard James Daniels and tackle Teven Jenkins.

On the injury front, several players sat out practice Thursday: defensive back Xavier Crawford (concussion), quarterback Andy Dalton (left hand), receiver Marquise Goodwin (foot), defensive back DeAndre Houston-Carson (forearm) and left tackle Jason Peters (ankle). Tight end Jimmy Graham (knee) and linebacker Roquan Smith (hamstring) were limited. Defensive tackle Akiem Hicks (ankle) and quarterback Justin Fields (left hand) were full participants.

Meanwhile, changes to the COVID-19 protocol are taking effect immediately across the NFL. There has been a record number of players placed on the COVID-19 list this week across the league, not just in Chicago.

All team meetings will take place virtually or outdoors, all players and staff must wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status and visitors are no longer permitted at team hotels, per a report from the NFL Network.

The league also adjusted the requirements to make it easier for fully vaccinated players to “test out” after a positive COVID-19 test if they are asymptomatic.

“Throughout the pandemic we have continuously evolved our protocols to meet our goal of advancing the safety of the players, coaches and staff,” the NFL said in a statement. “The changes we are making today aim to address the increase in cases and the advent of the Omicron variant. ... All of these changes are grounded in our data and science-backed approach, with safety our No. 1 goal for the entire NFL community.”