Seahawks-Bears: Bobby Wagner ruled out for Monday Night Football

Well, this is trouble.

Gearing up for Monday Night Football and hopeful to avoid an 0-2 start, the Seattle Seahawks have ruled out inside linebacker Bobby Wagner, receiver Doug Baldwin, and outside linebacker K.J. Wright from playing against the Chicago Bears. It could be a long night for the defense.

Wagner suffered a groin injury this week and it has progressed to him missing his first game since 2015. The Seahawks defense has really formed itself around the speed of Wagner and this is a potentially devastating blow. Seattle signed free agent Mychal Kendricks this week and he seems likely to get plenty of snaps on Monday night, if eligible. Backup Austin Calitro could get the first extended game action of his career. The Seahawks may have also wanted to avoid giving a lot of defensive snaps to Shaquem Griffin after a shaky first start, but that may be unavoidable given these circumstances.

Like Wright, Baldwin was also expected to miss this game. His absence is anything but good, however Seattle probably feels more confident in that unit with Tyler Lockett, Brandon Marshall, Jaron Brown, David Moore, and Keenan Reynolds, than they did in their linebacking group.

The team released defensive tackle Tom Johnson on Saturday to make room on the roster.

Meanwhile, one starting cornerback is doubtful (Tre Flowers) while the other is questionable (Shaquill Griffin). D.J. Fluker is also doubtful, along with safety Delano Hill. J.R. Sweezy is likely to get another start at right guard with Fluker injured. Any injury to Bradley McDougald — who was on the injury report this week — means that Hill probably won’t be the next man up. It seems likely that the Seahawks will be utilizing Akeem King and Neiko Thorpe at cornerback much more than they had planned to at the start of the season.

And it’s only Week 2.