After his left knee held up well to a week’s worth of practices, Bears running back David Montgomery figures to be activated off injured reserve Monday and play against the Steelers.
“I think all week long that he’s looked really good,” coach Matt Nagy said Saturday. “I would say there’s a really good chance, yes, of him being activated.
“[At the] beginning of the week, we wanted to see how he was going to look. You have no idea [until] he gets out there.”
Montgomery was put on injured reserve after spraining the knee Oct. 3 against the Lions.
When he returned to practice Thursday, the Bears opened a three-week window during which they could activate him for game action.
“We’re excited to have David out there at practice,” offensive coordinator Bill Lazor said Friday. “To my eye, it looked like it went pretty well.”
Montgomery, who ranks seventh in the NFL with 77.3 rushing yards per game, will be the Bears’ lead back.
Rookie Khalil Herbert — who has run 81 times for 351 yards, most of it in relief of Montgomery over four games — will shift to a complementary role.
Damien Williams is out with a knee injury suffered last week.
Mack out; Jackson questionable
Outside linebacker Khalil Mack will miss his second consecutive game Monday night.
The Bears ruled out Mack, who has been dealing with a foot injury suffered in Week 3.
Safety Eddie Jackson — who, like Mack, hasn’t practiced this week — doesn’t figure to play, either. Jackson is doubtful after hurting his hamstring against the 49ers.
Mack hasn’t practiced regularly in about six weeks. The Bears’ decision not to put Mack on injured reserve last week — which would have cost him at least three games — means the team believes he has a chance to play against the Ravens after the Bears’ bye.
“I think the bye will come at a good time for us to see where he’s at and just talk through it and get more opinions as to medically where we’re at with our trainers and doctors,” Nagy said.
Foles out
Third-string quarterback Nick Foles missed the first two practices of the week for personal reasons.
He didn’t practice Saturday after the Bears added “illness” to his injury-report status and won’t travel with the team to Pittsburgh.
Foles’ personal issue appears unrelated to the passing of the NFL’s trade deadline Tuesday. Nagy said Foles will be back soon.
“Very confident of that,” he said. “Yeah, his is an illness . . . but he’ll be back, for sure.”
This and that
Two starters — wide receiver Darnell Mooney (groin) and inside linebacker Alec Ogletree (ankle) — are questionable.
Mooney practiced on a limited basis Saturday, but Ogletree did not.
† Tight end J.P. Holtz (concussion) is out.
