Packers-Bears Injury Report: Oren Burks questionable, Josh Jones out for Sunday night

Two weeks after suffering a shoulder injury in warmups for the Green Bay Packers’ third preseason game against the Oakland Raiders, rookie linebacker Oren Burks landed on the official Friday injury report for his first regular season game. Burks missed the final two preseason contests with that shoulder issue but returned to practice on a limited basis this week in the lead-up to Sunday night’s opener against the Chicago Bears.

With that limited practice under his belt, Burks has formally been listed as questionable on the Packers’ injury report for this week, keeping his status for Sunday’s game in a great deal of uncertainty. Joining him under the questionable designation is fellow inside linebacker James Crawford, who would likely be a special teams-only player.

In a study performed on numbers during the 2016 season, 71% of players whom the Packers listed as questionable on the final injury report suited up on the active roster in the game. (The Packers had the 20th-highest such rate in the league that year.) That suggests that there is still a better-than-even chance that Burks will be able to play and if he does, expect him to be in the starting lineup.

There is one Packer who will definitely not be active on Sunday, however: safety Josh Jones. After playing 16 snaps in the preseason finale last Thursday, Jones has missed practice all week and is not going to suit up thanks to an ankle injury.

As for the Bears, they have just two players listed on their report. DeAndre Houston-Carson, a third-year backup safety, is listed as out, while tight end Daniel Brown, also a reserve, is doubtful.

Here are the full reports.

Packers Injury Report

Questionable

• ILB Oren Burks (shoulder)
• ILB James Crawford (hamstring)

Out

• S Josh Jones (ankle)

Bears Injury Report

Doubtful

• TE Daniel Brown (shoulder)

Out

• S Deandre Houston-Carson (forearm/back)