Kyle Monangai departs Bears
practice injured while tackle Ozzy Trapilo returns from PUP list
[August 17, 2026]
By GENE CHAMBERLAIN
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — An apparent knee injury to running back
Kyle Monangai ruined what initially looked to be a positive day for
the Chicago Bears, who returned to practice Sunday after their 34-10
preseason win over the Cleveland Browns on Saturday.
Monangai was taken down by defensive tackle Grady Jarrett in a
practice without pads and failed to get up after the play. He later
was helped up and walked slowly with trainers about 100 yards to
Halas Hall.
The Bears did not immediately update his status. Monangai ran for
783 yards as a rookie last year in a backfield rotation with D’Andre
Swift. Monangai had an unspecified injury earlier in camp but
quickly returned and has been working with the team but did not play
in Saturday’s preseason opener.
“With Kyle, can’t say enough good things about him,” Bears guard Joe
Thuney said. “Hopefully it’s nothing too crazy or significant. But
football is football. It’s tough. I hope he’s all right.”
The injury occurred on a day when last year’s starting left tackle,
Ozzy Trapilo, came off the physically unable to perform list and
took part in the early, individual work at practice, but not the
scrimmage. Trapilo had a patellar tendon injury against Green Bay in
the playoffs and had been expected to miss more time, but is back
working toward a return.
Trapilo coming back to the practice field and the return of Braxton
Jones at left tackle from an injury earlier in camp made for a much
different picture at that position than in Saturday’s game. Kiran
Amegadjie and Jedrick Wills Jr. had played left tackle against the
Browns.
“Can you believe it?” Thuney said about Trapilo. “It’s awesome, Just
a credit to him, the staff here, trainers, weight staff, everybody.
It’s just great to see him back in the field.
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“Who knows what the timetable will be? But great to
see him moving in football positions again, helmet on. He had
another great year last year and it’s cool to see him out there.”
Coach Ben Johnson had called the first preseason
game the point when he wanted to have a starter named in the battle
for left tackle between Jones, Amegadjie and Wills, but Jones’
injury for the past two weeks has complicated this. The return of
Trapilo further clouds the picture.
“As soon as we can make a decision, we feel clear and confident this
is the person to go forward with, we’d love to be able to do that,”
offensive coordinator Press Taylor said. “Until then, we’ll let the
process play out.”
Wills allowed a sack in Saturday’s game as he and Amegadjie split
playing time.
“It wasn’t perfect,” Taylor said. “It wasn’t as clean as we’d love
it to be going forward. And that’s kind of why there still continues
to be an open competition for the position.”
The Bears had defensive end Montez Sweat back from injury for part
of practice, and also injured back Cam Lewis returned from injury,
but safety Xavier Woods was unavailable after suffering a groin
injury in Saturday’s game.
The Bears also were without starting cornerback Tyrique Stevenson
for Sunday’s practice.
The Bears go to Cincinnati later in the week for practice against
the Bengals and a Saturday game.
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