The Sports Xchange

BOURBANNAIS, Ill. — The Kevin White drama took a turn for the worse at the worst possible time for the Chicago Bears.

The rookie wide receiver, selected in the first round of this year’s draft, will start the season on the physically unable to perform list after rehab and rest failed to cure a stress fracture in his lower shin. He will have surgery, and the hope by the team is that he can return late in the season.

White exiting the receiver picture couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Bears because Alshon Jeffery suffered a calf strain Wednesday in practice and did not play in Thursday’s game against Miami. He is day to day, so quarterback Jay Cutler’s current top options at receiver are Eddie Royal and Marquess Wilson.

White’s great speed and Jeffery’s athleticism are sorely missed. Cutler had to work with that group in Thursday’s game and had one scoring drive and another drive that never got going.

“It’s part of the business,” Cutler said. “It’s how it goes. Sometimes you’re going to lose some guys and some other guys have to step up. We’re comfortable with Eddie. We’re comfortable with Marquess over there. I think Marc (Mariani) did a good job stepping in over there in the slot. (Tight end) Martellus (Bennett) is kind of a constant out there. We’ve got enough to work with. We just need to clean up some of the sloppy plays we had.”

“He’s disappointed, he’s dying to get out there,” general manager Ryan Pace said of White. “I’ll focus on his long-term health right now, so I think I can think back to a lot of rookies as you look at the history of the NFL, that have had some setbacks and I know this is going to be a blip on the radar as he has a long, successful career.

“He’ll convert from active PUP to reserve PUP and then that gives us the option to bring him up in the latter part of the season. Honestly, is there a chance that he misses the season? That’s a possibility. I want to make sure we do this the right way, not rush him back. Sometimes I feel like you have to protect them from themselves.”

White tried to run on grass Monday for the first time since he suffered the shin injury in organized team activities in June. The next day he had pain and he knew the conservative treatment failed.

“Surgery is not a No. 1 option for anyone, so it was obviously the last option and we’re at a last option,” White said.

White, the seventh pick in the draft, will have a rod put in the tibia to stabilize the leg. It is possible he could miss the entire season, but the Bears are holding out hope he can return for the second half of the season.

White was optimistic he could make the recovery until his first efforts at running led to pain.

“I just got pain in that spot again,” he said. “I’m not ignorant about the situation. I knew it could probably lead up to surgery, so I’ve just got to accept it and roll with the punches.”

The surgery involves inserting a rod to supply support. Mariani once had a similar surgery.

“I knew it was an option, but honestly we were optimistic that this would just naturally heal on its own like a lot of them do,” Pace said about the surgery. “So we were thinking, ‘OK, stay off of it. It’s going to heal on its own.’

“And then when he came back, we’re like, ‘OK, here we go. We’re progressing. We’re good. Let’s stay with our plan.’ Any signs of pain, any kind of setback, we need to do this to protect his long-term health.”

–The first look at Adam Gase’s offense in no-huddle mode left Cutler eager to see more.

In particular, the Bears looked efficient going no-huddle on third downs to keep the defense off balance.

“I like it. I like it a lot,” Cutler said. “It gives us a lot of time on the clock if we want to change a play, want to go to something else, we can.

“I think it kind of wore the defense out as we progressed throughout the game.”

The Bears had 22 of their 33 rushing attempts in the second half.

“The way the game got going there toward the end, I think that was because we ran so many plays and we were so effective,” Cutler said.

–The first preseason game had been expected to clear up some of the battle for third or possibly fourth running back. Instead, it had the opposite effect as the Bears ran for 166 yards on 33 carries.

Jacquizz Rodgers was running in the second or third spot and gained 33 yards in his start with Matt Forte held out, but both fourth-round pick Jeremy Langford and holdover second-year player Ka’Deem Carey looked solid. And then Senorise Perry clogged the situation up further with a 54-yard touchdown run.

Perry wound up with 89 yards and would have led all rushers even without his 54-yard run.

“I liked them in practice,” head coach John Fox said. “I think as a coach you control practice, you make it as physical as you can and try to keep your guys healthy. So this is the first time for us as a coaching staff and them as players with us.”

NOTES: CB Terrance Mitchell began the concussion protocol process at Thursday’s game with Miami after a helmet-to-helmet collision while making a tackle but was cleared to play. He wasn’t put back onto the field as a precaution. … Among those missing practice Saturday were TE Chris Pantale (illness), OT Jason Weaver (neck) and RB Daniel Thomas (knee).