Bears News: Bilal Nichols Diagnosed with Broken Hand; Won't Go on IR

Chicago Bears defensive tackle Bilal Nichols suffered a broken hand that will likely keep him out of Monday's game against the Washington Redskins, head coach Matt Nagy announced Thursday.

According to Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic, Nichols isn't expected to go on injured reserve and could play with a club.

Nagy said the team will know more about its plans in the next two days.

The 23-year-old started each of the team's first two games so far in 2019, totaling two tackles, but he left Sunday's matchup against the Denver Broncos after playing just 11 defensive snaps.

Roy Robertson-Harris and Nick Williams saw the remaining snaps on the defensive line and would presumably see a bigger workload until the starter is back to 100 percent.

Nichols was a fifth-round pick in the 2018 draft but quickly earned a role on the Bears defense before moving into the starting lineup by the end of the year. He finished his rookie season with 28 tackles and three sacks in 14 appearances (six starts) for a unit that ranked No. 1 in the NFL in points allowed.

There were high hopes for the Delaware product going into his second season, but the recent injury could be a setback.

The good news is the Bears are not short on talent defensively and Akiem Hicks is capable of picking up the slack on the line.