Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs is unlikely to play this week when Chicago hosts the Seattle Seahawks. Briggs is listed as questionable but has not practiced all week due to a sprained left ankle that took him out of the game last week against Carolina. This is not related to his preseason ankle injury which was his right ankle. Briggs has only missed three games in his seven NFL season and is the leading tackler on the team. He has 49 total tackles, one sack, one INT, one FF and one FR.

Fantasy Analysis:

Briggs being out is a real pain for fantasy owners. Unless you've got a quality backup, it's possible you may need to cut him loose and when that happens, someone else might pick him up. What's good though is there are quite a few linebackers who are playing just as well as Briggs across the league. As for how this impacts Chicago, this is a tough loss to their run game. Replacement Brian Iwuh is a big guy with a big frame, but he doesn't quite have the same burst as Briggs and that will be a problem in their run defense. Seattle's got a couple quick backs with Leon Washington and Justin Forsett which might cause some matchup issues out of the backfield. Briggs is among the top 15 fantasy linebackers this season.