Thursday night's matchup against the New England Patriots is a big game for the Chicago Bears, as they try to keep pace in a tight NFC North division race. While the Bears are relatively healthy on paper, including the recent return of star quarterback Caleb Williams, they will unfortunately be without one of their best young players for the primetime game.

Second-year Kyle Monangai will not play for the Bears against the Patriots as he continues to recover from a turf toe injury and a thumb injury. Monangai will have now missed the Bears' last three games as Chicago is clearly trying to get one of its best offensive weapons healthy and primed for an important second half of the season. To be sure, the Bears' offense remains highly potent, but there's no denying that Monangai's power dimension is definitely missed — both by the Bears and fantasy managers of Monangai.

Neither the Bears nor Monangai on any of his social platforms has offered a definitive return timeline for the running back.

However, my best guess is that Chicago is trying to get Monangai ready to roll for a huge Monday night matchup on the road against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 8, given the inherent stakes of an NFC game against another playoff contender in the conference. That will have given Monangai about a month of rest for both of his injuries, which, assuming neither is too severe, might be enough for him to be 100 percent again for action against the Seahawks. If Chicago were to hold Monangai out for that Seattle game, I do think it's at least somewhat possible he doesn't come back until after the Bears' Week 10 bye, which means he will have missed a total six games but received about a month and a half to heal up.

But I wouldn't worry about that timeline because the Bears would've placed Monangai on injured reserve in the first place if they expected him to be out that long. Instead, they're just being proactive by getting the powerful tailback ready for football in the cold.

Don't worry, Bears fans and Monangai fantasy managers: The star running back should be back soon.