It’s a bad day for the Bears.
Amid their many ongoing injury issues and some new ones that have popped up, prized rookie quarterback Justin Fields is out of practice Wednesday with a groin muscle injury.
Nagy downplayed the issue — “There’s nothing to read into,” he said — and still plans to play Fields in the preseason game against the Bills on Saturday, but couldn’t say with certainty that he’ll be available.
“It’s too early to go there,” Nagy said. “We want to be able to get to that point where he’s able to play in that game. That’s very important. … We’re being super conservative. When you start messing with these soft tissue deals, you’ve gotta be smart.”
Nagy saying this isn’t a major concern is far from reassuring. Presumptive starting left tackle Teven Jenkins, for example, was repeatedly described as getting close to returning until Nagy revealed Wednesday that he’ll have back surgery that could keep him out all season.
There was no mention of an injury coming out of Fields’ dazzling performance in the preseason opener against the Dolphins, but he looked off throughout practice Tuesday.
“He was a little sore, and Justin is the last one that’s going to tell you that’s an excuse,” Nagy said. “He’s not going to use that excuse. He was [angry] at some of the throws and just the way [he played] in general yesterday. I didn’t think offensively we had a very good day.
“We were able to watch the film last night, go through it and correct it and see why and stuff so, and I just, for us, we just, we gotta be smart. We want to be smart and it doesn’t makes sense right now to push the limits with him and make [him] more sore.”
