Jaquan Brisker has entered the concussion protocol after missing an entire week due to an illness. The Bears safety took a big shot during a Raiders two-point conversion attempt back in Week 7 and cleared the concussion protocol at the time. It seemed like Brisker was going to be good to play moving forward, but then he got sick.
It’s a strange situation of illness and concussion intertwining, so head coach Matt Eberflus carefully explained the timeline on Monday.
“So, (last) Sunday and Monday he checked out fine with the evaluation and with the independent neurologist being cleared from concussion, so he was all set,” Eberflus said. “Then Tuesday, we reported that he was ill and had a fever. That persisted through Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, then into Friday we brought him in the building, so he was in here then. Then he was still not feeling well, so we ruled him out on Saturday. Then, again, he wasn’t feeling well, then his illness cleared Saturday, then Sunday felt he was cleared, in terms of his illness. Then, still felt a little bit off in terms of having different symptoms and those types of things, so we had him re-evaluated and now he is back into concussion protocol. That was on Sunday, not feeling well, then on Monday, this morning, got him tested again and he’s back in concussion protocol.
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“I understand that’s unique. I’ve never had that happen before.”
The Bears were without both Brisker and fellow safety Eddie Jackson against the Chargers. Elijah Hicks and Duron Harmon played in their places. If each guy misses more time, the Bears will likely go back to that same combination.
“The most important thing is our players’ safety and health and Jaquan did a very good job of communicating with us and the training staff did a really good job too, of seeing this thing all the way through,” Eberflus said.
The Bears selected Brisker in the second round of the 2022 draft and he cracked the starting lineup immediately. Brisker appeared to be an ascending star on defense, but his young career has been broken up by frequent injuries already. Brisker only missed two games last season, and one game up to this point this year, but he’s shuffled on and off the field due to various injuries, including a broken thumb, multiple soft tissue issues and now multiple concussions.
