Bears rookie tackle Teven Jenkins returns to practice

At long last, Teven Jenkins is back at practice.

The Bears rookie offensive tackle has been sidelined since July due to a back injury. Jenkins had surgery on the injury in August and started the regular season on the injured reserve list.

His return to practice opened a 21-day window during which the Bears can activate him off injured reserve.

"We'll have to really get him in here and see where he's at," coach Matt Nagy said. "It's been a while since Teven's put the pads on, so we'll start there. That will be exciting for us to see where he's at. I know he's really anxious and excited to get out there."

The Bears were on a bye last week and did not practice. The team returned to Halas Hall Monday for a light practice in preparation for their game against the Baltimore Ravens Sunday at Soldier Field.

This spring, Jenkins came in with high expectations after the Bears traded up in the draft to select him in the second round with the 39th overall pick out of Oklahoma State. The team cut veteran left tackle Charles Leno days after the draft, paving the way for Jenkins to take over left tackle and protect the quarterback's blind side.

The 23-year-old was a full participant throughout rookie minicamp and organized team activities in the spring. Word of Jenkins' back injury didn't surface until training camp began and he was sidelined for the first few days. At the time, Nagy declined to say much about the injury until he announced in mid-August that Jenkins would be having surgery.

With Jenkins out, the Bears signed 39-year-old veteran left tackle Jason Peters. The nine-time Pro Bowl tackle has been one of the best offensive linemen on the team this season. That will make things complicated whenever Jenkins is activated off injured reserve.

Currently, Peters is starting at left tackle and rookie Larry Borom is starting at right tackle. The challenge will be figuring out how Jenkins fits into the mold.

"As far as the sides and stuff, we'll work through it with him," Nagy said. "It's always a positive when you have somebody, especially when you draft a guy like we did early in the draft. For him to do what he has to do now to get back to this point, now we get to work through and see where he's at conditioning-wise, physically where he's at. It's just going to be, honestly, really, an hour-by-hour, day-by-day process with him."

Borom missed six weeks with an ankle injury. Before his return, he spent his time walking through his pass sets and technique in his living room. Bears offensive line coach Juan Castillo said Jenkins was doing the same thing while he was injured.

Running through it in slow motion was better than doing nothing.

"That's why Larry was able to come back and look the way he looked," Castillo said. "I think it goes back to the competition that these kids have already had in college. (It) is to get them to do their technique consistently."

Just because Jenkins returns to practice this week doesn't necessarily mean he will play Sunday against the Ravens. If the Bears find he's healthy enough to play and in good enough game shape, adding another starting-caliber tackle to the offensive line is never a bad problem to have.