Montez Sweat may be back for Bears Sunday, Zacch Pickens back to himself after injury
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (CBS) -- The 4-4 Bears should be bolstered by the potential return of pass rusher Montez Sweat on Sunday against the New England Patriots.
Sweat was a full participant at Bears practice on Thursday. But even with him, a decimated defense that has been gashed in back-to-back losses will still be missing a key piece up front.
As defensive coordinator Eric Washington put it, there is no replacing Andrew Billings.
But second-year defensive tackle Zacch Pickens will try. Pickens himself is just back from a tough groin injury that had him inactive five straight weeks.
"It was very frustrating coming back. Came back Houston, came back a little too early, ended up tearing it—So that was a major setback—and spent the whole time trying to rehab, trying to get back, back to playing like myself," said Pickens. "Took a few steps here and there, and then I'm finally back to myself."
The Bears defense as a whole was a clearly frustrated group after their performance against the Cardinals that followed the Hail Mary loss in Washington. As for how they are feeling now, cornerback Jaylon Johnson said it's all about how they perform in the game.
"We're going to see on Sunday. I mean, it's easy to be good when we're practicing. I mean, for me, like I've been saying all year, it's about what we do on Sunday," said Johnson. "We can talk, and, oh yeah, we feel good going into the game, and we get our ass whooped again. To me, it don't really matter. But I think just overall—we're always going to continue to fight, continue to find ways to push forward, but at the end of the day, we've got to show up on Sunday.
There is some potentially positive news on the offensive line. Starting left tackle Braxton Jones was back on the practice field, but right tackle Darnell Wright remains out.
