Hroniss Grasu carted off with noncontact right knee injury

Cutler’s message comes at a crucial point for the Bears, especially in light of starting center Hroniss Grasu’s season-ending injury on Saturday. “That’s why we signed Ted – he’s an experienced lineman, he’s a veteran guy, came from a winning team”, coach John Fox said.

“It’s a punch in the gut”, Fox said. “I know he’s protecting his teammates and doing everything possible, but there’s some things you just can’t do”. “It looked fairly serious, but we won’t really know until the medical people look at it”.

Grasu went down without being touched at an open practice the Bears had at Soldier Field.

The injury occurred right in front of Fox at the end of a play during team drills. “He was changing direction and it didn’t go well”.

The Bears’ chances of competing in the NFC North could be in trouble if the offensive line fails to jell before the regular season begins.

The Chicago Bears are going to have to make some adjustments on their offensive line going into the season, as center Hroniss Grasu has been ruled out for the rest of the year with a torn ACL.

The non-contact injury rose question about field conditions following the practice, but defensive lineman Akiem Hicks didn’t see any issues.

The Bears could have made a switch to Cody Whitehair, the second-round pick who has worked at left guard throughout camp.

The Bears cut versatile veteran Matt Slauson, who made 12 starts at left guard and four at center last season, because they wanted more athleticism. The 2015 third-round pick out of OR started eight games as a rookie. Cornelius Edison is listed as the team’s second-string center, but he has never played an National Football League game.