Bears running back Khalil Herbert is expected to return to practice and be activated off injured reserve this week in advance of Saturday's home game against the Bills.
"He is cleared, ready to go," coach Matt Eberflus said Monday. "Like we said last week, he's got all his jumps, his speed. He's been cutting, he's been moving. He looks great. We're excited about his return."
Herbert sustained a hip injury Nov. 13 on a kickoff return late in a loss to the Lions. He was placed on IR and has missed the last four games.
The second-year pro appeared in the first 10 games this season and ranked 11th in the NFL in rushing with 643 yards and four touchdowns on 108 carries at the time of his injury. Herbert's best game of the year came in Week 3 when he ran for a career-high 157 yards and two TDs on 20 attempts in a 23-20 win over the Texans.
Status quo: Reiterating what he said following Sunday's game, Eberflus described right guard Teven Jenkins' prognosis after suffering a neck injury against the Eagles as "encouraging."
Jenkins was injured while pulling on a running play on the game's opening possession. He had to be immobilized and removed from the field on a stretcher.
"It's encouraging with him," Eberflus said Monday. "I don't really have much of an update from there, but it is encouraging for him. We'll see where he is later today. He is seeing a couple specialists just to double-check and cross-check everything."
Cramping up: Eberflus conceded that seeing Justin Fields temporarily exit Sunday's game in the middle of the fourth quarter with the Bears trailing 17-13 was "a little stressful."
The second-year quarterback was suffering from leg cramps—an issue he has previously dealt with this season—and went to the locker room for an IV. He returned to action after missing only one play.
Fields usually gets an IV before games but didn't Sunday because it was so cold. Moving forward, he said that he'll get an IV regardless of the temperature.
"I think that you have to look at it," Eberflus said. "I think the performance and the training staff get together with him and 'let's have a conversation' and I know they've had those conversations. They've done a pretty good job of that and, again, it's happened a couple of times. So, he's just got to be mindful of it and come up with a plan that's a good plan that works for him. His body's different than everybody's else's body, and it's also the conditions. The conditions are different. Sometimes it's hot. Sometimes it's cold. The weather was pretty cold yesterday. So, we'll just come up with a good plan."
Good reps: After playing 10 snaps in his Bears debut two weeks ago against the Packers, Alex Leatherwood rotated in for 17 plays at right tackle Sunday for veteran Riley Reiff, who played 42 snaps.
"We planned to do that," Eberflus said. "I thought [Leatherwood] got some good reps there. I thought he had some good moments in there going against some good pass rushers. I think he learned some in there as well. He had some adversity. That is always going to happen when you play some good rushers, and he just has to build upon that and learn from that experience."
