Bears quarterback Andy Dalton avoided catastrophe, but he could still miss time.
Tests performed Monday showed that Dalton’s left knee injury is in fact a bone bruise, NFL Network reported. Dalton’s femur and tibia collided when he scrambled along the right sideline and then out of bounds for a 14-yard gain early in the second quarter against the Bengals on Sunday.
The injury could cost Dalton a couple weeks, though the Bears aren’t incentivized to offer a timeline until Wednesday’s league-mandated injury report, at the earliest. A bone bruise — much less serious than a fracture — can only be shown by MRIs.
If Dalton can’t play Sunday in Cleveland, then rookie quarterback Justin Fields will make his first NFL start.
A bone bruise was one of the knee injuries Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered in Week 1 against the Bears in the 2018 opener, when he returned from the locker room and rallied his team to a victory.
