Kyle Monangai has been officially rule out of the Chicago Bears Monday night game against the Seattle Seahawks. Not that it comes as a surprise to anyone, given that it's been a few weeks since he practiced, but this means it will be his fourth straight game.
Meanwhile, D'Andre Swift played in 86 percent of snaps on Thursday night against the New England Patriots, handling 26 touches and posting 90 total yards and a touchdown. Roschon Johnson only carried the ball twice in that game.
Scott has been building toward this moment
Zavier Scott, who played in 16 games last season for the Minnesota Vikings, has spent time on the Bears practice squad since the beginning of September, and was elevated to the active roster in the last three games. In order for the Bears to have him play in another game, the Bears would have had to expose him to waivers.
Head coach Ben Johnson had this to day:
"We've had him up for the last three weeks, and it's just been a matter of that trust level. He wasn't here for training camp, so the time on task is not quite the same as everybody else, but we see growth each and every week throughout the practice reps because he's getting more of them. Does that mean he'll get more burn? Possibly, yeah, possibly. Particularly if this playtime trend that we've had over the last few weeks continues to be a thing, I think we're going to need all three backs to play for us."Ben Johnson
The playtime trend is definitely a certainty without Kyle Monangai on the roster. Johnson has never been a coach who wastes his words, meaning "we're going to need all three backs" stopped being a hypothetical when Monangai was ruled out. Seattle's defense is the most physical run front Chicago has seen, allowing only 89.4 rushing yards per game.
Asking Swift to repeat an 86 percent workload would be folly. That's how you end up with two running backs injured instead of one.
Scott doesn't need to be a star on Monday night. He needs to take his couple snaps, and hold up enough to give Swift the time he needs to get back to the field. If he can do that, then the chains will keep moving, and the Bears will keep scoring.
A month ago, Scott was just a practice squad name that Bears fans likely didn't know. Monday night, in one of the loudest buildings in football, he's going to carry the ball for the best rushing offense in the NFL. The opportunity that Johnson's kept describing isn't on it's way anymore. It's here.
| More Bears on DaWindyCity |
Add us as a preferred source on Google