Bears Activate Offensive Lineman From Injured Reserve

The Chicago Bears offense should be getting some much-needed reinforcements for Week 9. The team activated left guard Cody Whitehair from injured reserve Friday afternoon, putting him in line to potentially start Sunday's matchup with the Miami Dolphins.

Bears coach Matt Eberflus said that Cody Whitehair will be activated off of IR.
— Adam Jahns (@adamjahns) November 4, 2022

Whitehair has missed the previous four games with an MCL sprain suffered in a Week 4 20-12 loss to the New York Giants. The Bears lost three of their four matchups in his absence with their only win coming in a shocking Week 7 33-14 Monday Night Football dismantling of the New England Patriots.

Whitehair has been arguably the Bear's best and most reliable offensive lineman in recent years, even earning a Pro Bowl in 2018. He had started 99 of a possible 101 games before this season's injury and earned a solid 76.3 overall grade from Pro Football Focus over his 189 snaps this year.

Whitehair joined the Bears as their 56th overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. He quickly established himself as a stalwart on the interior of the offensive line, achieving an elite 87.5 overall grade from PFF on over 1000 snaps as a rookie. His return should help stabilize a pass-blocking unit that has allowed quarterback Justin Fields to be sacked a league-leading 31 times on an astonishing 16.3% of his dropbacks.