Lavonte David Injury: Buccaneers linebacker OUT against Bears

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be without linebacker Lavonte David today, as first reported by Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. The linebacker's absence is no surprise, as he failed to practice on the final two practices of the week due to a hamstring injury. With rain expected and a notoriously horrible field in Chicago, sitting him for the first time in his NFL career is probably the right decision.

But that decision will certainly hurt the Bucs, whose run defense in large part depends on David's sideline-to-sideline ability. It's not clear who will replace him -- that could be one of four backup linebackers, but you can be sure that the team's defense will take a major hit without one of their best two players.

We should have more on the Buccaneers' and Bears' inactives in about twenty minutes, which is also when we're likely to hear who David's replacement will be.