Kevin White’s injury is yet another blow to the Bears’ rebuilding effort

Second-year wide receiver Kevin White was finally providing a shimmer of hope for the Chicago Bears’ ongoing rebuilding project. Not now. White suffered a high ankle sprain that resulted in a fracture of his fibula. The Bears are putting him on injured reserve and they’re not giving a timetable for his return. He may need surgery to fix it.

Last week was shaping up as White’s long-awaited breakout game. Before he left with the injury, he caught six of nine passes thrown his way and racked up 55 yards. His first career NFL touchdown still eluded him. It’s not like the Bears score a lot of touchdowns, but it sure felt like it was close.

The Bears used the seventh overall pick of the 2015 NFL Draft on White. Projected as one of the best receivers in the draft that year, White had just wrapped up a 1,447-yard, 10 touchdown season at West Virginia. He fractured his shin during the Bears’ offseason workouts that year and ended up missing his entire rookie season.

This year was supposed to be a fresh start for White, hell, for the entire Bears team. Nobody expected a Super Bowl or anything like that, but their offseason moves pointed to at least some improvement over last year’s 6-10 record.

White hasn’t been ruled out for a return this season, but this is clearly another setback for his development, something the Bears were counting on as part of that rebuilding effort.