Bears place Akiem Hicks on IR, Alex Bars signed to the 53-man roster

One day after making the trifecta of roster moves involving the injured reserve, the practice squad, and free agency the Chicago Bears have done it again today by placing defensive lineman Akiem Hicks on IR, signing offensive lineman Alex Bars from their practice squad to their 53-man roster, and signing free agent linebacker Fadol Brown to their practice squad.

For those scoring at home, yesterday it was Kyle Long to IR, Abdullah Anderson signed to the 53, and Dax Raymond added to the practice squad.

Hicks injured his elbow in London against the Raiders, and ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that he will return in eight weeks for their week 15 match-up against the Green Bay Packers. Getting Bilal Nichols back from his broken hand could help ease the loss of Hicks, but make no mistake about it, losing a Pro Bowler in the middle of that defense will require an adjustment in scheme.

Yesterday head coach Matt Nagy mentioned Bars as being in the mix, along with Ted Larsen and Rashaad Coward, to fill in at right guard for Kyle Long. “Between the three of them, I think it will be fun for us to kind of work through what decision, where we want to go with that,” said Nagy via the team’s site. “And then whoever it is, let’s go. There’s no looking back.”

Coward received the first team reps yesterday at practice, so we’ll need to see what happens on Wednesday.

Brown has appeared in 16 games in two years with the Packers and Raiders, and I find it interesting the Bears list the 6’4”, 282 pounder at linebacker rather than defensive line where he’s played in the past.

What are your thoughts on these latest roster moves?