For a few days in Chicago, Kyle Monangai's spot in the Bears backfield looked shakier than anyone expected. The second-year back, who broke out last season as one half of a rare 750-750 rushing tandem with D'Andre Swift, went missing from practice without much explanation, and that's the kind of silence that makes fantasy managers and Bears fans start refreshing Twitter.
Bears HC Ben Johnson told reporters that RB Kyle Monangai is dealing with a soft tissue injury. “We're taking it day-by-day,” Johnson said. “It should be on the shorter side.”
Turns out it's a soft tissue injury, and head coach Ben Johnson isn't treating it like a big deal. "We're taking it day-by-day," Johnson told reporters, adding it "should be on the shorter side." That's about as calm a tone as you'll get from a coach about a guy who just missed practice time with no clear diagnosis floating around camp.
Context matters here. Monangai isn't some camp body — he ran for 783 yards and 5 touchdowns as a rookie last season, including a 176-yard, 26-carry outburst against the Bengals that ranks as the second-most rushing yards by a rookie in Bears history. He and Swift became one of the only running back duos in the league to each clear 750 rushing yards in the same season, and Chicago's ground game finished top 3 in the NFL because of it. Losing even a few practice reps from that setup is worth watching.
The good news landed fast. Monangai was back on the field for practice, which is exactly the update Bears fans wanted after a couple of tense days of no-shows.
Monangai is practicing today.
None of this rewrites the depth chart. Swift remains the lead back in Chicago's timeshare, and a short-term soft tissue issue in early August is about as low-stakes as an injury scare gets — assuming it stays that way. But with Monangai entrenched as the clear No. 2 in a backfield that carried real fantasy value last year, every practice report between now and Week 1 is going to get read closely.