The Bears’ injury picture has already turned messy in Week 3 of training camp, but there may be a real reason for some relief on the way.
Chicago has spent the start of camp dealing with one setback after another. Coby Bryant is out four to six months after knee surgery, the team still doesn’t know whether Luther Burden III will be ready for the season opener against the Carolina Panthers, and Kyler Gordon’s recovery remains up in the air. It’s a rough stretch, with no clear sign the bad news is stopping.
Against that backdrop, Ozzy Trapilo’s recovery suddenly matters even more. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer recently hinted the starting left tackle could be back sooner than expected, and now Ryan Poles has offered the clearest update yet.
Speaking exclusively with CHGO, the Bears general manager said the team has already mapped out possible return windows for Trapilo, who is rehabbing a ruptured patellar tendon suffered in last year’s playoff win over the Green Bay Packers.
"Yeah, we've talked about the different scenarios, whether he comes back and has a little bit of training camp, if he comes back in September. I think the big thing for us is padded practices.
If you get too far down the line, it's really hard to get that physical practice that you need to prepare for games. So we've kind of looked at that on the calendar and want to map that out for him so he feels confident coming back, and so yeah, we kind of mapped that out and hopefully he's able to capture some of those padded practices.
When asked whether that means a training camp return is on the table, Poles kept it simple.
"Potentially."
Trapilo’s rookie season in 2025 gave the Bears plenty to like. He stepped in at left tackle over the final two months of the regular season and held up well, allowing 15 pressures, three quarterback hits and two sacks in 283 pass-blocking snaps. Pro Football Focus graded him at 69.9 overall, good for 37th among 89 offensive tackles, with a 71.5 pass-blocking grade and a 63.6 run-blocking grade.
For a team already absorbing too many hits on the injury front, getting Trapilo back in the next month would be a welcome development. Right now, any positive update counts.
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