The Chicago Bears place Roquan Smith on injured reserve on Monday with a torn pectoral muscle. Kevin Pierre-Louis will need to continue to step up.
The Chicago Bears and Matt Nagy’s fears came to full fruition today as Roquan Smith heads to injured reserve. Nagy spoke to the media on Monday stating that Smith tore his pectoral muscle and his season is now over.
Smith had turned the corner since struggling earlier in the year with an undisclosed personal issue. In the five games leading up to the injury, Smith averaged over 10 combined tackles per game. He also had two sacks and four tackles for loss during that span.
The Bears are on the outside looking in right now for the playoffs, but all they need to do is win their games and hope the Rams and Vikings slip up. With the news about Roquan Smith, the team is going to need guys to step up. Smith is a first-round draft pick and when he is playing at 100 percent is one of the best young middle linebackers in the NFL.
Last Thursday against the Cowboys, Kevin Pierre-Louis stepped in for Roquan Smith when he left the game with his pectoral injury. Pierre-Louis did a more than admirable job. He was flying around on the field and even made plays that did not make it on the stat sheet.
Pierre-Louis played on 63 percent of the snaps on Thursday. He finished with five combined tackles, four were solos, one was a tackle for loss and he also had two pass deflections. The Bears seem to have filled their linebacker corps. with some solid depth. Pierre-Louis is not the first backup to step up this season. Nick Kwiatkoski stepped up when Danny Trevathan went down with an elbow injury earlier this season.
Speaking of Trevathan, there is a slim chance he returns this week against the Packers. If he is that close, it is possible he returns for the Chiefs game at the latest. Either way, Pierre-Louis needs to continue to be ready to play at the level he did versus the Cowboys. This team is hitting its stride and if they beat the Packers might have a real chance at sneaking into the playoffs.