Bears coach Matt Nagy acknowledged that Roquan Smith being limited in practice Wednesday night due to hamstring tightness diminishes the chances of the first-round draft pick making his preseason debut Saturday against the Chiefs.
"Just because he's not out here running around 100 percent, I'd say that's probably a fair statement," Nagy said after the Bears worked out at Vernon Hills High School.
The Bears were cautious with Smith for the second straight day. The rookie inside linebacker, who ended his 29-day holdout last Tuesday, did not finish Tuesday's practice at Halas Hall after experiencing tightness in his left hamstring.
"Pretty much the same thing, pretty much precautionary," Nagy said. "We don't want to be stupid, don't want to be dumb. We want to be smart.
In other injury news, Nagy revealed that reserve safety and special-teams contributor DeAndre Houston-Carson broke his arm in last Saturday's preseason win in Denver.
The Bears coach also said that there was nothing new to report on tight end Adam Shaheen, who is expected to get a second opinion after spraining his right ankle and foot against the Broncos.
Fingers crossed: Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky is among those hoping that Shaheen makes a quick recovery. The 2017 second-round draft pick was performing well in training camp before getting injured in Denver.
"Adam is going to be a big part of this offense and we're just going to hope to get him back as soon as possible, whenever that is," Trubisky said. "He's an awesome player and tight end. We have a really strong tight end group, so when one guy goes down, [it's] the next man up. We're picking each other up, and we're picking him up as well. We just need to get him back as soon as we can."
Special day: After opening the preseason with three road games, Nagy is excited about coaching the Bears for the first time at Soldier Field Saturday.
"It'll be special," he said. "It doesn't matter if it's the preseason or the regular season. To be able to finally get onto that field and in front of the fans, the community, the city. We've talked so much about the history of this team and what it's been through and where we want to take it. Now for me personally and selfishly, to go through it for the first time, I know I'll have chills for at least the start of it."
Saturday's game will be even more special for Nagy because it's against his former team; before being hired by the Bears in January, Nagy spent the past five seasons with the Chiefs as quarterbacks coach (2013-15) and offensive coordinator (2016-17).
"It's excitement," Nagy said. "There's no jitters. I know so many coaches, players, people in that building, and we're going to have fun. We understand that we're both here to make our teams better and it's going to be competitive. It'll be fun, but at the same time we know so much about each other in different ways, so you try to help out. It is a preseason game, so you keep that in perspective a little bit."
On the mend: Speedy receiver Taylor Gabriel is being eased back into action as he recovers from a foot injury that sidelined him for a couple weeks.
"We're coming back in increments with him," Nagy said. "His biggest thing is just the pain of what he's going through, and it's been getting better and better each day. I think you saw out there today he's such a quick player. He's smart, he's a veteran. There's calmness when he gets in the huddle. It's nice to have him back out there."
The team went back to school Wednesday for their Varsity Bears practice at Vernon Hills High School under the lights with the stands packed full of fans.