For the third time in barely four months, wide receiver Alshon Jeffery is on an injury list with a lower-body problem, this time a groin strain suffered in practice on Wednesday and which kept him out of practice on Thursday.
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The Bears didn’t report the injury Wednesday but coach John Fox confirmed the injury occurred.
Jeffery had been a full participant for the past two weeks in practice and is leading the league in receiving yards per game.
Jeffery has caught 28 passes for over 400 yards the last three games.
The Bears wide receiver spent Thursday receiving treatment.
Jeffery’s contract expires after this season and concerns over his history of injuries have to be weighed before signing him.
“No. We’re in a very physical, combative game”, Fox told reporters. I’ve heard medical people say, ‘Well, he needs a few rest.’ I’m like, ‘Well, no kidding. But “when “17” makes a request, you usually have a pretty good feeling about him making a play on the ball”, Gase said. That’s not very restful’.
Quarterback Jay Cutler didn’t seem overly concerned about being without Jeffery, which he has been for half of this season. His passer rating of 89.6 is above his single-season career high of 89.2 and he has thrown just five interceptions.
Cutler liked the assertiveness that Jeffery showed as well. “But we’ve got a lot of guys that step up when he’s not in”.
Cutler isn’t in the mood for evaluating his improvement.
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“I think he’s trying to take a little bit more of that leadership role, a little bit more of that No. 1 guy”, Cutler said. “We’ve had other guys here who we’ve featured and now he’s kind of the guy. You look at the past week and right now we’re looking at the Rams, so it’s a week-to-week thing”.
