Fields (thumb), who has been ruled out ahead of Sunday's game against the Raiders, won't require surgery on his throwing hand and may have a chance at playing in the Bears' Week 8 game against the Chargers on Oct. 29, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports.

EDGE Analysis

Fields dislocated the thumb on his throwing hand in the Bears' Week 6 loss to the Vikings, and though the team isn't putting an official timeline on his return, Rapoport relays that the quarterback's thumb injury is considered a 2-to-3-week injury. With that in mind, the Bears aren't yet ready to rule Fields out from playing Week 8, but he'll almost certainly need to practice at least once between next Wednesday and Friday just to take a questionable designation into that contest. Rapoport adds that Fields is already regaining grip strength, but the Bears likely won't be able to gauge if he's fit to play until evaluating him in a practice setting. Undrafted rookie Tyson Bagent will make the start in Fields' stead Week 7 and will be backed up by Nathan Peterman.