Bears Head Coach Ben Johnson Provides an Injury Update on Kyle Monangai

Before the Chicago Bears' first full day in pads on Monday, head coach Ben Johnson provided an update on second-year running back Kyle Monangai.

Johnson told reporters on Monday morning that Monangai is dealing with a soft-tissue injury and is considered "day-by-day right, but we're working through it. He's working hard with this rehab, and it should be on the shorter side."

The former seventh-round draft pick from Rutgers missed three of the four practices last week, and veteran running backs Salvon Ahmed and Roschon Johnson has seen some playing time with the second-team offense behind starter D'Andre Swift. 

As a rookie last season, Monangai helped the Bears become the No. 3 rushing team in the NFL (2,456 yards). The 5-foot-8, 207-pound running back finished his rookie season with 169 carries for 783 yards and five touchdowns. 

Johnson discussed his involvement in developing the run game last week, describing it as a unit that is "one voice."

"It's important to me and I love the thought of us as a whole unit, everyone's hearing it together, how important the wideouts are to the success of the play, where we need them, how important the quarterback is in terms of his fake and the ball handling in order for it all to work together," Johnson said. "Then, of course, the magic really starts with the offensive line. Hopefully it gives them a little bit of confidence that within a game they can come to me and I'll know exactly what they're taught. Hey, we need a little bit more of this or can you dive into this a little bit more? I love that back and forth and being able to speak the same language as them.”

Even with Monangai out, Swift has been more than capable handling the workload so far in training camp, especially since the team hasn't been in full pads. That changes, though, on Monday. 

Johnson runs an intense camp, which will test every player's physical and mental strength. Whenever the Bears run the ball, there should be a uptick in the physicality on those plays. Although a fully padded practice will provide a better reflection of real football, the Bears still need to monitor Swift's workload. 

“I feel really good about where he’s [Swift] at," Johnson said. "I’ve had a long history with him obviously, so know the skill set, might be a guy that we just keep an eye on as we go through camp. We need him fresh and ready to go for 17-plus games this year. That’s really what we’re most concerned about. There’s things in the pass game that we’ll continue to look at and challenge him on, but where he is as a runner right now I think we feel really good about.”