The Bears are confident that Montez Sweat will be good to go by the time the Titans come to Chicago for Week 1. The star defensive end has missed nearly two weeks of work with an undisclosed injury, but defensive coordinator Eric Washington confirmed on Tuesday that Sweat was able to return to practice in a limited fashion for individual drills.
“He’s taken a step to getting back to practice,” Washington said.
Under head coach Matt Eberflus, the Bears have had a policy of “ramping up” players who have missed an extended period of time. They won’t give a guy a full workload as soon as he’s healthy enough to return to the field. Instead, they gradually build his workload back to full participation.
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Sweat is in the middle of that process now.
It feels like the Bears should be fine tuning for the regular season now, considering they reported to camp nearly a month ago. But they received an extra week of camp to get ready for the Hall of Fame game, which is essentially a preseason Week 0 for the NFL. They still have over three weeks until the regular season begins. That’s plenty of time for Sweat to get back back in full game shape.
“I don’t have any concerns as far as his readiness and availability on Week 1,” Washington said. “He’s making progress and trending in the right direction as far as getting 100% healthy.”