Never fear, DJ Moore is here.
The superhero of the Bears’ offense was hobbled by an ankle injury on the second play of the game against the Cardinals, but has been full-go at practice all week and will be ready Sunday against the Falcons.
“I’m like Wolverine,” he said Thursday, referring to the Marvel Comics star who has the power to quickly heal himself. “I guess y’all was surprised, right, because I wasn’t on the injury report? Nah. I’m like Wolverine for real.”
It was quite unexpected that Moore didn’t miss at least a little practice time after an injury that reduced him from the Bears’ biggest threat in the passing game to more of a decoy. In explaining his decision to play through it, he said, “I’m me, so a lot of teams are gonna try to focus on it.”
Moore played just 52 of 70 snaps and finished with three catches for 18 yards — his least productive game as a Bear.
He has been essential to the offense since the day he arrived, but could be even more important Sunday because the Bears don’t know whether they’ll have tight end Cole Kmet or wide receiver Darnell Mooney against the Falcons.
Kmet left the Cardinals game at halftime because of a knee injury and hasn’t practiced since, and neither has Mooney since being diagnosed with a concussion.
It’s already a steep drop in receiving production after Moore, who leads the Bears with 83 catches, 1,141 yards and seven touchdowns. Kmet has 678 yards, followed by Mooney at 414. And after that, no one else has 175 yards receiving or more this season.
Mooney’s absence would open a decent opportunity for rookie Tyler Scott, a fourth-round pick from Cincinnati, though he did not get a pass thrown to him in 29 snaps against the Cardinals. The game before, however, was his best of the season with three catches for 49 yards against the Browns.
