The Kansas City Chiefs watched a few players exit their opening preseason contest against the Chicago Bears with injuries.
The primary goal of each and every NFL franchise in this preseason part of the calendar is to come out as unscathed as possible. The physicality and length of the NFL season already make it incredibly difficult for a team to stay fairly healthy for a full 17 games as it is, and the additional preseason games only make it tougher.
The good news for the Kansas City Chiefs is that the team was able to avoid major injuries to major players in the team’s opening preseason game against the Chicago Bears on Saturday—a 19-14 loss at Soldier Field. However, that’s not to say there were no concerns at all once the game had finished.
Here’s a look at the players who were hurt on Saturday and how it might affect the team going forward.
Blake Bell
Tight end Blake Bell was enjoying himself in the first half of the Chiefs vs. Bears after catching the first touchdown of the preseason from Patrick Mahomes on the opening drive. Mahomes threw six completions to six different receivers, and Bell capped it off with a nice catch-and-run across the goal line to put the Chiefs on top. Just a few minutes later, however, Bell was being carted off of the field.
Bell went down with a non-contact injury that ended up being termed as a hip injury by the team. Initially, he was designated as questionable to return, but the team downgraded him to out before the game was over.
The team will give a more in-depth update on Bell sometime early in the week, and it’s possible that Bell will need some medical tests or imaging done first before they know anything. However, at this point, the Chiefs already have a tight end on the mend as Jody Fortson deals with a quad injury that’s kept him out a bit longer than expected. Now the Chiefs are going to move forward with Travis Kelce and Noah Gray as roster holdovers.
This is a prime opportunity for Jordan Franks and Matt Bushman, even if it’s just another day or two of practice before one or both tight ends come back. Franks and Bushman are both receiving high marks from coaches for their performances in the preseason, but now the window is wide open for them to stand out even more given the injuries.