The Bengals aren’t sure if quarterback Joe Flacco will be able to play on Sunday against the Bears.
Flacco’s status is in question because of an AC joint sprain in his throwing shoulder, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor described Flacco as day to day on Monday.
Flacco briefly went to the locker room after being sacked by Jets edge rusher Will McDonald on Sunday, but he returned to the field without missing a snap. He indicated after the game that he thought he’d be OK.
If Flacco can’t go on Sunday, the Bengals will turn back to Jake Browning, who started three games after Joe Burrow was injured in Week Two. All three of Browning’s starts were blowout losses, which led the Bengals to trade for Flacco, so everyone in Cincinnati will hope that Flacco’s shoulder feels good enough for him to play on Sunday.
Marcedes Lewis still isn’t ready to hang up his cleats.
The 41-year-old tight end has agreed to sign with the Broncos, according to multiple reports.
Denver has been seeking help at tight end with multiple injuries at the position. Lewis fits the bill as a solid blocker.
A first-round pick in 2006 — the same year Mario Williams went No. 1 and Reggie Bush went No. 2 — Lewis is entering his 20th pro season. He had played all 17 games in each of the last four seasons before he went unsigned this offseason. In 2024, he was on the field for 19 percent of Chicago’s offensive snaps and 12 percent of special teams snaps.
He caught just one 2-yard pass for Chicago last year. He has just 11 receptions over the last three seasons, despite playing all 17 games in each of them.
In his 285 career games with 229 starts, Lewis has caught 437 passes for 5,115 yards with 40 touchdowns for the Jaguars, Packers, and Bears.
The Bears have a depleted secondary, and they’re bringing in some veteran help.
Veteran safety Chauncey “C.J.” Gardner-Johnson is signing with the Bears’ active roster, his agents told Adam Schefter of ESPN.
The Bears are Gardner-Johnson’s fourth team in less than 12 months: He played for the Eagles last season and through the Super Bowl, then was traded to the Texans this year, released in September, signed to the Ravens’ practice squad in October and released a week later.
With the Bears, Gardner-Johnson will play for defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, who coached him on the Saints. The Bears will hope he can get up to speed in Allen’s defense in a hurry, as they’re in need of some warm bodies in the secondary.
The Bears placed defensive lineman Shemar Turner on season-ending injured reserve on Tuesday, the team announced.
Turner tore an anterior cruciate ligament in Sunday’s game against the Ravens.
In five games, he totaled six tackles, including two for loss.
A second-round pick out of Texas A&M, Turner injured his ankle on the first day of training camp and didn’t make his debut until Week 3. He moved from defensive tackle to defensive end during the team’s Week 5 off week.
The Bears used the roster spot to activate defensive lineman Austin Booker from injured reserve. Booker will make his season debut on Sunday against the Bengals.
Booker injured his knee in the preseason, which cost him the first seven games.
To the extent that the Ravens listed quarterback Lamar Jackson as being a “full” participant in practice on Friday as part of an effort to get the Bears to plan to defend the two-time MVP and not Tyler Huntley, it worked.
As explained by Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Bears were preparing to face Jackson.
“We were looking at tape of him and saw him practicing all week . . . so we had to flip our minds to the next quarterback,” safety Jaquan Brisker said after the game, per Lieser. “It was a big difference.”
Brisker added that the Bears dumped multiple schemes that had been implemented to defend against Jackson. And the pivot to Huntley was not effective.
Huntley completed 17 of 22 passes fo 186 yards and a touchdown in a 30-16 win. He also had a passer rating of 116.9, a career high.
That said, Bears safety Kevin Byard called the potential misdirection a non-factor. Byard pointed to the struggles of the team’s defense. Meanwhile, defensive Grady Jarrett said he didn’t believe the Ravens were engaged in malfeasance.
The NFL will be the ultimate judge of that. At a minimum, the Ravens violated the injury-reporting policy by listing Jackson as being a “full” participant when he should have been listed as “limited.” If the league decides it was done as a deliberate ruse to hide the truth about who would play, the penalties (by rule) will be enhanced.
