Although the Bears placed veterans Akiem Hicks and Kyle Long on injured reserve last week, their 53-man roster is healthy heading into Sunday's game against the Chargers.
Defensive end Bilal Nichols is the only player listed on the injury report—and that's only because he's typically limited in Friday practices that are held on the artificial turf inside the Walter Payton Center to rest his knee.
Defensive back Sherrick McManis is out of concussion protocol and has been removed from the injury report. The Bears' longest tenured player, who joined the team in 2012, suffered a concussion late in last Sunday's loss to the Saints.
After being inactive in back-to-back games against the Broncos and Redskins, McManis has produced impact plays in each of the Bears' past three contests.
He made two excellent open-field tackles on special teams against the Vikings, generated a takeaway with a brilliant "Peanut Punch" inside the Bears' 1-yard line on defense versus the Raiders and recorded two more special-teams tackles against the Saints.
The way McManis handled being deactivated and then produced when given another opportunity is an excellent lesson for his young teammates.
"They get to see that here's a guy that never griped or complained, that he understood the role for our team at that time, and now here he is, he's back at it," said coach Matt Nagy. "He goes back, his first game back and has a dominant performance. That's just who he is. That's who the person is. We appreciate that and that's his veteran leadership."
The Chargers, meanwhile, have some injury issues, especially on defense. They've ruled four players out of Sunday's game, including starting defensive tackles Justin Jones (shoulder) and Brandon Mebane (knee). Defensive end Melvin Ingram (hamstring) practiced in full Friday, but he has missed the last three games and is listed as questionable.
On the other side of the ball, top receiver Kennan Allen (hamstring) did not practice Thursday or Friday and is listed as questionable. Allen, who has caught 44 passes for 564 yards and three touchdowns this season, is expected to be a game-time decision.
