Bears coach Ben Johnson said his message to cornerback Kyler Gordon is two words long — “Get healthy.”
It could also be four words long — “We don’t trust you.” Or, at the very least —“We don’t trust you yet.”
Why would Johnson? Since his arrival as Bears head coach, the slot cornerback has played 11% of the team’s regular season snaps.
He missed a week last training camp with a hamstring problem and was limited upon his return. He was a surprise addition to the Bears’ injury report one day before their season-opening game against the Vikings — on a day the team didn’t practice — and didn’t return until Week 6.
He went on Injured Reserve with calf and groin injuries in Week 8. He hurt his hamstring warming up minutes before the Bears’ Week 14 game in Green Bay and went back to IR, only to return for the playoffs. Those two IR trips in seven weeks were more than he’d totaled in his career up to that point.
Now, with training camp set to begin Wednesday at Halas Hall, he’s on the Physically Unable to Perform list with no clear return date.
Gordon nursed a calf problem throughout the Bears’ offseason before hitting a “delay,” general manager Ryan Poles said Tuesday, the day veterans reported to Halas Hall for training camp.
Though Gordon spent almost all of his summer break rehabbing the injury in Lake Forest, there’s no timetable for his return. His bosses seemed at a loss to explain why.
“I really don’t know,” Poles said. “He’s gotta get right. And I think the important thing that we’ve all talked about is when he gets back, we need him to stay back.”
Has there been a disconnect with Gordon?
“I think that’s the frustrating part,” Poles said. “I think the communication in terms of the plan our guys have put together has been on point, but it just hasn’t stuck.”
Until it does, his bosses reserve the right to be dubious. Johnson is already to that point after being vocal about Gordon’s absence last month.
“A little bit of a repetitive situation that we’ve gotta get fixed,” Poles said. “And then when he gets back, he’s going to have to earn that trust back — and that dependability. Because we’ve gotta put all the guys in a good position to be successful, and the up-and-down moving guys around is really tough. So he’ll have to earn that back when he gets back.”
There’s a lot at stake for Gordon — who the Bears can walk away from for a mere $5 million dead cap charge next year — but also for the general manager.
Gordon, after all, was Poles’ first-ever draft choice — a second-round pick in 2022. In April 2025, Poles gave Gordon a three-year, $40 million contract that cemented his status as the highest-paid slot cornerback in the NFL.
Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen was so smitten with Gordon upon arriving Chicago that the cornerback was the only player he mentioned by name in his introductory press conference. He’s a critical part of a Bears defense that spent this offseason looking for players who fit Gordon’s profile — athletic, versatile and violent.
Tuesday, Johnson stressed the Bears have options with Gordon out. They worked rookie Malik Muhammad in the slot after drafting him in Round 4. Free agent signee Cam Lewis can play in the slot and at safety. Special teams ace Josh Blackwell and vet Jaylon Jones are also candidates.
“There will be certain players that certainly flash here, and we’ll give them opportunities to run with the ones, you know, while Kyler’s out,” Johnson said. “And we’ll see where it goes from there. We have a lot of options, from rookies all the way to some of these veteran players, the free agents that we brought in. I think we’re gonna have a healthy competition in that room.”
The Bears desperately need Gordon to be a part of it. Across the building, Poles said, it’s been “all hands on deck to get him back.”
The Bears are waiting.
“Obviously, he’s frustrated, we’re frustrated,” Poles said. “We just want him back. He helps our football team.
“We have to move forward with the guys we have and when he’s ready to go, he’ll be ready to go. Everybody here is putting all their time and effort to get him back right.”
