Staley Da Bear
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- Mar 16, 2019
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If Smith is unable to play, his absence no doubt will be difficult to overcome.
"He's playing at a dominant level," coach Matt Nagy said. "He's not just playing like a good player or a great player; there's complete domination in the way he's playing. He's playing on another level.
"Whoever the next guy up that has to step up and go in there and do their thing [is], it's our job as coaches to know and see that and work around that and work to that player's strengths. And you can't say that that player is Roquan, because they're not, so you've got to work to that player's strengths. Then it's the other 10 players around that have to be able to do the same thing. So we'll see where he's at. But if [Smith is unable to play], then guys have got to step up. We're not the only team going through that right now."
Third-year pro Josh Woods, who replaced Smith against Green Bay, is also listed as questionable for Sunday's game versus the Saints after being limited in practice Thursday and Friday with toe and glute injuries.
Mooney was injured late in the Packers game. The rookie fifth-round pick from Tulane finished second on the Bears in receiving with 61 catches for 631 yards and four touchdowns. His 61 receptions were the most by a rookie wide receiver in Bears history.
Johnson has missed the last three games. The rookie second-round pick from Utah tied for sixth in the NFL with 15 pass breakups and also registered 44 tackles and one tackle-for-loss.
Johnson has impressed the Bears from the day he arrived at Halas Hall for training camp.
"I like the idea of having a short memory if you get beat," Nagy said. "There's a couple times where he got beat and he came right back. It all started in training camp. His mentality, he took it to the season and I think he learned a lot.
"Understanding how to do little things like watch tape, there's not a lot of people that watch as much tape as Kyle Fuller, and I think it's been great for Jaylon to be able to witness behind the scenes how much tape Kyle sees. It just teaches you how to be a pro off the field.
"On the field, they're going to go after you being a rookie, but he's really fought hard to get better and better, and I think his arrow is definitely up. It's unfortunate that he got hurt, but he's working hard to get back, and I think he has a really great attitude, and that's going to be the biggest thing."
Nickel back Buster Skrine has been ruled out of Sunday's contest due to a concussion that forced him to miss the final four regular-season games.
For the Saints, defensive end Trey Hendrickson (neck) has been ruled out of Sunday's game. Hendrickson tied for second in the NFL with 13.5 sacks. Reserve guard Nick Easton (concussion) is also out.
New Orleans All-Pro receiver Michael Thomas and Pro Bowl punt returner Deonte Harris returned to practice this week and could be moved from injured reserve to the active roster and play against the Bears.
Star running back Alvin Kamara also could play; he tested positive for COVID-19 last week but is eligible to be removed from the reserve/COVID-19 list Sunday as long as he tests negative for the virus and is medically cleared.