The Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears have declared their Week 2 injury designations ahead of their Sunday divisional matchup. All week, media and fans have been focused on Lions starting left tackle Taylor Decker\u2019s health updates, and he\u2019ll enter this game with a questionable designation.<\/p>\n
Decker has been unable to practice all week, but the Lions plan on giving him as much time as he needs to recover, and are even considering playing him this Sunday\u2014as long as there\u2019s no long-term risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just trying to buy him some time here, to where he feels better,\u201d Lions coach Dan Campbell said on Friday. \u201cA lot of it, too, is Decker\u2019s played a lot of football. And so, he\u2019ll be ready as long as it feels right. But yeah, we feel good right now. And there again, we still have another day here, and we\u2019ll see. So, I can\u2019t give you a definitive yes (he\u2019ll play), but that\u2019s where it\u2019s at.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Decker said he hoping to play on Sunday, and then on Thursday, Lions offensive coordinator John Morton said the team was expecting Decker to play. Campbell also made it clear that Decker \u201cwants to play,\u201d but he was also clear that they won\u2019t risk it if there is potential for the injury to linger too long into the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is about the long-term season is what this is going to come down to. Just as far as what we do for this one,\u201d Campbell said.<\/p>\n
If Decker is unable to play, Campbell confirmed that the team would turn to Giovanni Manu to fill in as the team\u2019s starting left tackle, something he\u2019s been doing all week in practice.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, he\u2019s going to have to be ready. And he knows that, he\u2019s been getting reps all week,\u201d Campbell said of Manu. \u201cI did think he practiced better these last two days, which is good. He\u2019s part of a whole unit; he\u2019s part of all five of those guys up there. He\u2019ll be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n