Bears to put WR Kevin White on IR with fractured shoulder blade

LAKE FOREST, Ill. --Chicago Bears wide receiver Kevin White will be placed on injured reserve with a fractured shoulder blade, coach John Fox announced on Monday.

According to Fox, White's latest injury could require surgery, but the Bears haven't yet ruled out White coming back later in the year. Each NFL team is allowed to designate two players to return off of injured reserve after Week 8.

"My heart goes out to him," Fox said. "He was very disappointed and discouraged in the locker room after the game for obvious reasons. Again, our thoughts and prayers go out to him. He was pretty upset about it last night, and they're doing evaluations right now."

White exited Sunday's 23-17 loss to the Atlanta Falcons at the 9 minute, 43 second mark of the fourth quarter after catching a short pass for no gain. The former first-round pick immediately walked off the field following the play and went into the Bears' sideline injury tent for further examination. White was later taken to the locker room and officially ruled out.

White was observed after the game in a sling and holding his wrist to stabilize the injured side of his body. He left Soldier Field in an ambulance.

White, the seventh pick of the 2015 NFL draft, appeared in just four regular-season games in his first two seasons in the league because of two fractures in his leg.

Last year, White was placed on injured reserve after he suffered a severe high ankle sprain that resulted in a fractured fibula in his left leg in Week 4. As a rookie, White developed a stress fracture in his left shin. At the time of that injury, he had a steel rod inserted into his tibia to stabilize the left leg.

"When you've been through that and he's done it, and it's happened again, it's happened again, done it, and it sucks," Bears tight end Zach Miller said. "You can't control that stuff. Kevin is such a good football player. He's had unfortunate stuff happen to him early in his career. It won't derail the kid.

"Hopefully it's not terrible. That's a blow to our football team. It's a blow to him, but it's a blow to us, too. He'll bounce back. He's got to. He doesn't have a choice."

With Cameron Meredith already on injured reserve with torn knee ligaments, the Bears hoped that White would emerge as the club's No. 1 wide receiver.

White finished the game with two receptions for 6 yards on four targets.

If White's season is indeed over, he will have played in only five regular season games over his first three years in the NFL.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that would be the third-fewest games played by a top-10 pick within their first three seasons of being drafted in the common draft era (since 1967). Tom Cousineau was drafted No. 1 in 1979 but didn't play a game until 1982. Rich Campbell played in four games from 1981-83, and then there's White with five games from 2015-17.

In other injury news, Fox revealed that starting inside linebacker Jerrell Freeman self-reported concussion symptoms following Sunday's loss, and he is dealing with a pectoral injury.

"I don't know the severity of it yet," Fox said of Freeman's setback.

Fox said Pro Bowl running back Jordan Howard should be OK after he "landed funny on his shoulder" during his 4-yard touchdown run, but veteran Benny Cunningham will be sidelined with a high-ankle sprain.