The Bears will be getting two huge boosts when they host the San Francisco 49ers. The team announced on Friday that they’ve activated both Robert Quinn and Elijah Wilkinson off of the reserve/COVID-19 list.
Quinn has enjoyed a resurgent season this year, and currently ranks second on the team with 5.5 sacks, behind only Khalil Mack. There have also been reports that Mack could sit this week, so Quinn’s return could be even more important in maintaining the Bears’ league-best pass rush.
Meanwhile, the Bears struggled at right tackle with Wilkinson absent. Wilkinson was already backing up starter Germain Ifedi, who is on the IR with a knee injury. So the team moved further down the depth chart to try Lachavious Simmons against the Buccaneers. However Simmons was beat handily on a few sacks, so the Bears swapped players midgame, inserting versatile blocker Alex Bars in at right tackle. The team had been using Bars as an extra lineman to help in max protect, or certain run concepts, so placing him in at right tackle created yet another void.
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Now with both players returning, the Bears will have two fewer question marks to worry about this Sunday.