In a game that the Chicago Bears were lucky to get out alive, we saw plenty of mistakes and uncharacteristic moments from several players. In the end, the Bears were able to come away with a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but barely.
Late in this one, wide receiver Luther Burden III was hit hard on a play that also saw him fumble, with the Bucs recovering. It was one of those true "insult to injury moments," with Burden clearly shaken up.
Moments after Cairo Santos' game-winning kick, when head coach Ben Johnson was speaking to the media, he confirmed that Burden suffered a concussion.
Ruben Bain Jr. could've been flagged for his hit on Luther Burden III
On that particular play, Buccaneers rookie linebacker Rueben Bain Jr. was the one who laid the hit on Burden.
After seeing the replay, many fans were understandably upset that there was no flag called. Bain was seen lowering his shoulder a bit, taking aim towards Burden's upper body/head.
However, if you watch the play a few times and from different angles, it's hard not to actually see Burden also lowering his helmet a bit. Both players appeared to be bracing for a big hit and, naturally, tended to lower their point of gravity which resulted in lowering their helmets.
It's hard to see Burden go down in such an ugly manner, but it also must be pointed out that this could qualify as going under the "bang-bang" type of play where both athletes take part of the blame.
It's unfortunate, but it happens.
On the bright side, the fact that it wasn't worse than a concussion is a positive.
The Bears' bye comes at a perfect time for Luther Burden's concussion protocol
Burden's injury colud have been anything. With the way he dropped and hit the ground, causing a slight break in game action, a lot of fans were likely assuming much worse than a concussion.
Now, the Bears enter their bye week with plenty of time for Burden to work through the concussion protocol before being cleared to play against the New Orleans Saints in Week 11.
The one thing to keep in mind, here, is that this is Burden's second documented concussion in two years.
Last season, Burden missed that barn burner of a game against the Cincinnati Bengals with a concussion. It was the only game he missed, thankfully. But, it's worth noting that this is now the second concussion in two years for the former second-round pick.
Luckily, Burden has 13 days before the Bears play next, giving him ample time to rest and recover.
Luther Burden III isn't the only injured Bears player needing the bye week
Of course, the Bears were also missing another key component to their offense on Sunday night in running back Kyle Monangai.
Having missed five games, now, with toe and thumb injuries, Monangai did return to practice late last week.
As Chicago gears up for the stretch run of the season, they've desperately been missing Monangai's physicality on offense. He automatically brings another dimension to the game plan and Chicago hasn't been able to run the ball nearly as well as they did earlier in the season when he was on the field.
Of course, there is also Tyrique Stevenson who left multiple times against the Buccaneers. He has a hand injury, and we're not sure how serious that is, at the moment.
That also brings up the question of whether or not Ryan Poles is going to trade for another cornerback prior to Tuesday's deadline, so hopefully we see the Bears bring in some extra reinforcements.
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