Bears safety DeAndre Houston-Carson will undergo season-ending surgery to repair a fractured forearm he sustained in Sunday night's loss to the Packers.
The versatile sixth-year pro appeared in 13 games with three starts this season, recording 47 tackles, one interception and four pass breakups. Only Roquan Smith, Alec Ogletree and Eddie Jackson have more tackles. Houston-Carson was also a valuable member of the special teams, registering four tackles.
Other players who exited Sunday night's game with injuries were Smith, who aggravated the hamstring injury he suffered Thanksgiving Day in Detroit; left tackle Jason Peters (ankle); nose tackle Khyiris Tonga (stinger) and nickel back Xavier Crawford (concussion).
Quarterback Justin Fields sustained a left hand contusion but remained in the game. "I feel like he should be good there," Nagy said.
With an extra day to prepare for next Monday night's home contest against the Vikings, the Bears will spend the week monitoring Smith's hamstring injury and the left hand injury that veteran quarterback Andy Dalton suffered Dec. 5 against the Cardinals. Dalton was inactive Sunday night, with fellow veteran Nick Foles backing up Fields.
Roster move: The Bears on Monday placed defensive end Mario Edwards Jr. on the reserve/COVID-19 list. The seventh-year pro has appeared in nine games with one start this season, compiling seven tackles, 1.5 sacks, one tackle-for-loss and four quarterback hits. Edwards is in his second season with the Bears.
Still sidelined: Although Akiem Hicks expressed optimism Friday about playing Sunday night in Green Bay, the Bears ultimately determined that the veteran defensive tackle wasn't ready to return from an ankle injury he sustained Nov. 8 in a loss to the Steelers.
Hicks was inactive for the fourth straight game.
"He was close," Nagy said. "We just want to be smart with that. We got to Friday/Saturday morning when you have to make your decision on where it's at with rosters and numbers and everything, and being able to get in there and really go full bore all the time. That's the part you weigh. So, we're really close. And I think that's probably where that was in regards to where he was and where we're at. Now, hopefully we can be closer this week."
Seeing red: The Bears settled for a field goal on their only red-zone possession Sunday night, failing to score a touchdown after having first-and-goal at the 4 on their second drive of the game.
After David Montgomery's 1-yard run, rookie Teven Jenkins—who had just replaced the injured Peters at left tackle—was flagged for a false start. Fields scrambled for three yards and then failed to connect with Cole Kmet in the end zone on third-and-goal from the 5.
It appeared that Kmet had position on a defender as if he was boxing out for a rebound in basketball. But the throw was slightly wide. Cairo Santos followed with a 23-yard field goal that gave the Bears a 3-0 lead.
"We have some progressions that we go through," Nagy said. "Justin went through his progressions and gave Cole an opportunity. He was still kind of moving his feet a little bit. And if you go back and watch it on tape, Justin would probably tell you if he had just waited a little bit more, he might have had A-Rob (Allen Robinson II) in the back end line, which is OK. We see that. That's how Justin is going to learn, is understanding and going through those type of progressions. Collectively, we knew we had to come out of there with six or seven and not three, and that's where we've got to be better."
The Bears offense ranks 27th in the NFL with a red-zone touchdown percentage of 53.1 (17 of 32).
