Bears coach Matt Nagy told reporters Monday that right guard Kyle Long's right foot injury was still being evaluated and more would be known in the next 24-48 hours.
Long sustained the injury with 3:23 remaining in Sunday's win over the Jets when a player rolled up the back of his leg while he was blocking on a running play. The 6-6, 316-pounder was helped off the field and then carted to the locker room.
Selected by the Bears with the 20th pick in the 2013 draft, Long was voted to the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons while starting 47 of 48 games. But he missed 14 contests due to injuries in 2016-17, the most serious of which was a broken ankle he sustained Nov. 13, 2016 in a loss to the Buccaneers in Tampa.
"For him to go through what he's gone through the last couple of years with injuries, you feel for the guy," said coach Matt Nagy. "Since our first day together in OTAs, he's been a constant leader. He's very engaged in meetings. He's just really done things the right way.
"Right now, we're hoping that it's good news. But we won't know here for a little bit. When we do find that out, then we've got to deal with either way. But for him, he's just got to stay mentally strong as much as he can."
Nagy reiterated that Long's foot injury is unrelated to the broken ankle he suffered in 2016. Asked if there's a possibility Long could be out for the rest of the season, Nagy said: "I don't know, I really don't. I guess he could be, but I'm not sure. It's one of those ones it could be a little bit of time, but I don't know if it's necessarily season-ending."
There was some positive news on the injury front Monday, with Nagy revealing that guard Eric Kush is expected to return this week after missing Sunday's win over the Jets with a neck injury. Kush started the first six games of the season at left guard, but split time with rookie James Daniels in the final three of those contests. The Bears added depth Oct. 8 when they signed veteran guard Bryan Witzmann, who appeared in all 16 games with 13 starts last year for the Chiefs when Nagy was Kansas City's offensive coordinator.
"The good thing is that we do have Kush, with him coming back, and then Bryan Witzmann, who was with me in Kansas City last year," Nagy said. "So having some depth, I'm going to give credit to [general manager] Ryan [Pace] for going out [and acquiring players], and always having depth is great."
Nagy feels bad for Long and other players who get injured, but the coach knows that he can't feel sorry for himself or his team.
"You always feel for the person, whoever it is, however it happens, because you put yourself in their situation," Nagy said. "But as a coach, you've got to keep rolling no matter what happens. That's why I think Ryan and our guys do such a good job.
"They bring in depth, and having depth and our coaches coaching it, so that if anything does happen, the next-guy-up and then you go. You can't feel sorry for yourself as a coach, you can't feel sorry for yourself as a player. We'll just see where it goes."
In other injury news, Nagy said that outside linebacker Khalil Mack (ankle) and receiver Allen Robinson II (groin) both remain day-to-day after sitting out the Jets game, while tight end Ben Braunecker sustained a concussion that forced him out of Sunday's victory.
