Bears LB Roquan Smith out for season with torn pectoral muscle

The Bears will put inside linebacker Roquan Smith on injured reserve, ending his season, coach Matt Nagy said Monday.

The former first-round pick tore a pectoral muscle against the Cowboys on Thursday night.

In the last month or so, Smith had begun playing like the all-pro candidate the Bears believed him to be at the start of the season.

“I really thought you felt him, especially here in the last several games really turning it on, really playing fast,” coach Matt Nagy said. “He’s always had that every play that he gets, every game that he plays, for the rest of his career, he’s only gonna get better and better in my opinion. … I like where he’s at. It’s just unfortunate that it ended like that.”

The Bears braced for the worst after the Cowboys game, when Nagy said the pectoral injury didn’t “look good.” Nagy said he was unsure if Smith would be healed in time for the Bears’ offseason program in April.