Bears safety Coby Bryant will be out 4-6 months after knee surgery, Ben Johnson says

Sean Hammond, Chicago Tribune on Aug 11, 2026

Published in Football

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

CHICAGO — Chicago Bears safety Coby Bryant had surgery on his injured left knee Friday and will miss four to six months, coach Ben Johnson announced Tuesday.

Initial reports indicated Bryant would avoid surgery and be out eight to 10 weeks, but Johnson had not given an official timeline before Tuesday. The prognosis is worse than initially reported.

Bryant injured his knee during practice Aug. 3. Johnson’s timeline would indicate that the earliest Bryant might return is December. It’s possible he could miss the entire season.

That’s a big blow for Johnson’s defense.

“Coby is the template for how we all want our team to play,” Johnson said. “He was a big part of — offense, defense and special teams — the mentality, the mindset, the approach. We loved everything about it. It certainly takes us back a little bit, but it also provides opportunities for other guys to fill that void.”

Bryant signed a three-year, $40 million contract with the Bears in March after helping the Seattle Seahawks win the Super Bowl last season, and he was expected to pair with first-round draft pick Dillon Thieneman at safety after veterans Kevin Byard III and Jaquan Brisker left in free agency.

With Bryant going down, veteran defensive back Cam Lewis seems likely to step into the starting role beside Thieneman, although Lewis also is dealing with an injury. Lewis appeared in 76 regular-season games with the Buffalo Bills over the last six seasons before signing with the Bears in the offseason.

The Bears also could look to veteran safety Elijah Hicks, who’s currently on the physically unable to perform list with a shin injury. Hicks has appeared in 61 regular-season games over four seasons with the Bears, mostly on special teams.

On Friday the Bears signed another veteran safety, Xavier Woods, who has played 134 regular-season games (121 starts) over nine seasons with four teams.

____