Chicago Bears sign quarterback after Justin Fields and Trevor Siemian injury updates

With Justin Fields and Trevor Siemian still dealing with their respective injuries, the Bears are adding another quarterback to the roster. 

The team announced on Wednesday that it has signed Tim Boyle off the Detroit Lions practice squad after coach Matt Eberflus updated the injury statuses of his top two quarterbacks.

Eberflus said Fields would be limited in Wednesday’s practice due to his left shoulder and Siemian would miss the practice with the oblique injury he suffered before Sunday’s game against the New York Jets.

Here’s how Eberflus explained the Boyle signing:

“We’re doing it for precaution to make sure we’re covering all of our bases and we’re squared away with that and Ryan (Poles) and his staff did that recently,” Eberflus said. “And it’s really because of the familiarity (Boyle) has with Luke (Getsy), obviously being in Green Bay from (2018-2020) there, so that’s squared away there.”

The now fifth-year veteran signed with the Packers as an undrafted free agent in 2018 out of Eastern Kentucky. He has appeared in 16 games, he completed 61 of 94 pass attempts and threw for three touchdowns and six interceptions in three starts for the Lions last season.

Boyle will join Fields, Siemian and Nathan Peterman as the team begins its preparation for the Green Bay Packers this Sunday at Soldier Field. Fields and Peterman both took reps at Wednesday’s indoor practice.

Fields mentioned before the practice that he is feeling better now than he did last week. For Fields to feel confident about potentially coming back this week he just wants to make sure he can do everything he needs to in order to play.

Still, he isn’t sure whether or not he will be starting against the Packers. 

“It just depends on what I can do in practice and stuff like that,” Fields said. “So yeah, and it’s my first day this week when I’m getting out on the field, so we’ll see. We’ll know more after today.”

If Fields is still unable to progress enough to play this week, then things can get interesting. According to Eberflus, Siemian is day-to-day and the team will just have to wait and see how he feels and what the medical staff says about his oblique.

Siemian was a game-time decision to start last Sunday against the Jets, and now the Bears go into Packers week with uncertainty at the quarterback position.

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