Chicago Bears bring back Prosinski to help at safety
The Bears have only two healthy safeties on the roster.
One is rookie Eddie Jackson, who has started every game. The other is seven-year veteran Chris Prosinski, who arrived at Halas Hall Wednesday and has been out of the NFL since the Bears waived him with a hamstring injury a week before the start of the regular season.
Not only might he have to play today against the 49ers, Prosinski might have to play a lot, like the entire game.
He says he's good to go, and after spending 2015 and '16 in the Bears' system, he's conversant with the scheme.
“It's not ideal,” Prosinski admitted Friday afternoon. “But this kind of stuff happens in the NFL more than you probably realize.” When injuries piled up at safety, Prosinski was an easy choice for the Bears because of his experience and because he was a 15-minute drive from the facility.
“It actually has come back really quick, even better than I thought it would,” he said. We'll see what happens Sunday as far as playing time and how that plays out. Just looking forward to another opportunity.”
The 30-year-old was a fourth-round draft pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2011 out of Wyoming. He's been training at EFT Sports Performance in Highland Park and has had workouts for other NFL teams.
“I feel great, feel in good shape, and I've still been able to do a lot of the positional work,” Prosinski said. “Obviously football shape can be a little bit different, but I feel good about it.”
Backup safety Deiondre Hall, who's been on injured reserve all season with a hamstring injury, was activated Saturday.
Looking to rebound:
Rookie safety Eddie Jackson has played well most of the season, and he's one of just four Bears defenders to start all 11 games.
But the fourth-round pick from Alabama did not play well in the 31-3 loss to the Eagles. According to Pro Football Focus, Jackson was targeted six times and allowed 6 completions for 75 yards and a touchdown. He also missed at least 2 tackles.
“It wasn't as good as he had been playing,” defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said. “But I'm confident he'll come back this week and play good. Hopefully it was just a bad game and he got that out of his system, as far as the tackling goes.”
Highly regarded 49er:
Defensive end Solomon Thomas is the player the 49ers drafted third overall after they traded the second overall pick to the Bears.
Despite missing the Niners' first two games in November with a sprained knee, Thomas has 28 tackles and 2 sacks in seven starts. The Bears considered Thomas a good prospect, just not as much as Mitch Trubisky.
“We met with him (and) really liked him,” Bears coach John Fox said. “Great young guy. Really well thought of. Good teammate; intelligent. He had good burst off the edge. He had good speed. Tracks players down as a big guy. We thought very highly of him.”
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