The Chicago Bears had a tough task on its own, facing the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

However, it got even tougher as they were without all three starting linebackers going into the game. T.J. Edwards, Tremaine Edmunds and Noah Sewell were out with injuries. 

This meant that the Bears starting linebackers were rookie Ruben Hyppolite II out of Maryland, D'Marco Jackson and Amen Ogbongbemiga. 

The injuries continued piling up at linebacker throughout the game, as Hyppolite exited with a shoulder injury. Ogbongbemiga also left the game with an injury after recording 14 total tackles. Jackson had 15 total tackles and one tackle for loss. 

Regardless, the Bears were able to get two key defensive stops with under five minutes left in the game. 

At the podium following the win, head coach Ben Johnson could not have been prouder of his team coming through in spite of the injuries they faced. 

"Really proud of the guys," Johnson said. "Thought they did a phenomenal job just responding. I knew we were decimated in certain areas. The easy thing is to say, 'Woe is me,' and our guys didn't do that, they just stepped up and kept battling through. Happens to most teams each season too, where your depth is tested and it just so happens that it was this week for us. So, you know, can't say enough good things about the linebackers that stepped in that game." 

To put in perspective how tough of a task the linebackers were facing, Hyppolite had only played in six games with no starts. Jackson had the most experience this year of the three, but had played  in nine games with no starts. Ogbongbemiga has dealt with injuries in 2025 and has just two games of experience this season. 

Johnson should feel great about the depth of his linebacker room. With Edwards, Edmunds and Sewell unavailable, he had three more players step in and do an incredible job. It says a lot about the grit of this team going forward when you can have an outing like that with the odds stacked against you. 

While it was great that the likes of Hyppolite, Jackson and Ogbongbemiga were able to step up, hopefully the Bears will have more linebackers available against the Philadelphia Eagles in their next game. 

The Bears will face the Eagles at 2 p.m. CT on Black Friday on the road at Lincoln Financial Field.