Matt Slauson's move from center likely means return of Hroniss Grasu

View image | gettyimages.comIf Matt Slauson isn’t playing center for the Bears this weekend, who is?

Likely rookie Hroniss Grasu.

Slauson said Friday that he won’t be at center for Sunday’s game against the Broncos, meaning we’ll likely see the return of Grasu, who has missed Chicago’s past three games with a neck injury.

The third-round pick out of Oregon was listed as a limited participant in practice this week. Grasu said he has regained mobility in his neck, but warned that the Bears were being extra cautious with the injury.

“Because it’s your neck, you don’t mess with that,” he told the Sun-Times. “It was a scary thing. But I really respect what the training staff here did and all the doctors of just being safe with it. You don’t want to mess with it.”

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Grass took over at center after veteran Will Montgomery suffered a broken fibula during Chicago’s Week-4 win over the Raiders.

He started two games before suffering the neck injury in advance of a Week-8 loss to Minnesota.

Winners of two straight, Sunday’s game against Denver presents somewhat of a turning point for the Bears. While a win would set them up to make a run down the stretch, a loss could push them to a likely unsurmountable four games off the division lead.

Kickoff is at noon.

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