Applications now being accepted: Bears' Top 4 WRs miss practice

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Eddie Royal, the last of the top four receivers on the Bears’ preseason depth chart, made it a foursome on Wednesday as the veteran wideout was out of practice with a hip injury.

Statuses for Saturday in Cincinnati against the Bengals won’t be clear until much closer to game time, but as of now, none of Royal, Alshon Jeffery (calf), Kevin White (shin) and Marquess Wilson (hamstring) were practicing.

“I've never been a part of anything like that, all four going down like that,” said quarterback Jay Cutler.

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What that meant, and could mean on Saturday, is that Josh Bellamy, Rashad Lawrence, Marc Mariani and Cameron Meredith are top current top wideouts for your Chicago Bears.

“I got in the huddle there with these guys and they're all excited to be out there, they want to the ball, they want to do things the right way,” Cutler said, “so we'll see how it goes.”

None have ever started an NFL game and only Mariani has recorded a reception (five total).

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“Yeah, we got a few guys out,” coach John Fox said with a slight albeit pained smile. “But it doesn’t appear real long-term with anybody and it gives some other guys some opportunities.”

Only White, who underwent surgery last week to fix a stress fracture, is being described as other than day-to-day, meaning that at least a theoretical chance does remain that Jeffery, Royal and Wilson could play at Cincinnati. The likelihood of other than Royal playing, however, is very slight.

The good injury news of the day was the return to practice of linebacker Pernell McPhee (chest) and left tackle Jermon Bushrod (back), the latter only for on a limited basis, though.

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