Despite being tied for both the NFC North lead and the second wild card slot, the Bears are currently on the outside of the playoff picture. Chicago’s 3-4 conference record hurts in tie-breaker scenarios, making the game on Sunday in St. Louis even more important.
Reports indicate that Thomas, who suffered a knee strain against the Chiefs in Week 11, looked limited. His availability for Sunday is day-to-day.
Welker experienced concussion-like symptoms, as well as a neck injury, after taking a hard hit late against the Chiefs. Whether he will be able to make his New England homecoming against his former team is still uncertain, but his presence at practice was confirmed.
Manning aggravated a sprained ankle two weeks ago against the Chargers, but looked fine last week as he picked apart the vaunted Chiefs defense for 323 yards and a touchdown.
Babers was on staff while Tevin Elliot was a member of the Bears. Four months after Babers left, the defensive end was arrested on two counts of sexual assault and removed from the team. He was sentenced in 2017 to 20 years in prison. Baylor was later sued by five women who say Elliot raped them from 2009 to 2017, four of them testifying against him.
When asked about the scandal, Babers said:
I can talk about from 2008 to 2011, and Tevin Elliot was there. Heard he did bad, heard he got kicked off the team. And I became a head coach. And that’s not, how do I say this? That’s not to cover me. It’s just what happened.
I’m military. Boom, boom, next. There are certain things that you don’t get second chances for. I got four daughters. I’m down with that.
If you made the Babers biopic, you’d have a ready-made heart-stopping moment.