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Bears LT Ozzy Trapilo on His First Game Back From Injury
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- Bears LT Ozzy Trapilo on His First Game Back From Injury
Sunday was a great day for the Chicago Bears .
They got multiple players back from injury and had a thrilling 31-23 road win over the Atlanta Falcons. Caleb Williams and Kyler Gordon were both back on the field.
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Williams had been out since Week 2 with a hamstring injury. Gordon had been dealing with a soft-tissue injury and was finally activated from the PUP list.
Williams finished with 305 passing yards and one touchdown. Gordon had three sacks in his return. Gordon also accounted for four total tackles and three TFLs.
Ozzy Trapilo also made his surprise return after not being on the injury report since Week 2. Trapilo hadn't played a snap of football since his patellar injury in the playoff win over the Green Bay Packers.
Head coach Ben Johnson, as usual, didn't give much away at press conferences leading up to the game. Trapilo was eventually activated before kickoff but didn't start at left tackle right away.
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He came in during a field goal and later worked his way into the offensive line.
Trapilo wasn't expected to return this early. Initially, the expectation was that he would miss most of the season. Yet, Trapilo was removed from the PUP list in the preseason, and Sunday was the culmination of his recovery.
Trapilo spoke to the media after the win, expressing excitement about being back on the field with his teammates.
"Yeah, it was great," Trapilo said. "It was good to be back out there. It was a long time coming. Truly, just a testament to the trainers here, the weight room staff, everybody. There was a lot of hard work put in, you know, over these past how ever many months it's been. So, yeah, it was really exciting, and I was just happy to be back."
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It looks like the Bears are still trying to work Trapilo back into the rotation, which makes sense. The goal is to get him back up to speed after not playing football since January.
It wasn't realistic to expect Trapilo to return and start right away after a significant injury like that.
Luckily, the Bears have proven that they are built to withstand these kinds of injuries. Braxton Jones started the year holding down the position before he got hurt. Theo Benedet has been the starting left tackle for now.
Once the Bears feel like Trapilo is ready to reclaim left tackle, they will give him a chance. The team still has four more games until its next divisional matchup with the Detroit Lions on Nov. 26.
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If the Bears can get Trapilo back into the starting lineup by the time that game rolls around, that would be ideal. They'll need all the help they can get, since they're already down 0-2 in the NFC North with losses to the Minnesota Vikings and Packers.
For now, the Bears will try to bring Trapilo along slowly with a short week of prep before taking on the New England Patriots.
We'll have to wait and see how much the Bears trust Trapilo as he continues to work his way back.
