If a reporter gets Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson going on certain topics, he has plenty to say. In fact, many topics will bring insight from Johnson that is either clear-cut or readable between the lines.
Taking a page from the head coach he most recently worked under, Dan Campbell, Johnson also doesn't hide how he feels. If he's frustrated, hopeful, happy, uncertain, etc., it will show more often than not when he's behind a microphone.
Prolonged injury absences are frustrating for everyone, from general managers and coaches all the way down to fans. In Bears' land, no injury absence is bringing more angst than cornerback Kyler Gordon's.
In the span of the last few months, Johnson's tone about Gordon, who missed 14 games last season and has not really been on the practice field at all heading into this season, has changed.
In June, it was a brighter "we just haven't been able to get to know each other" vibe. At the start of training camp, it became a more blunt message signaling that the Bears' theoretical starting slot corner needs to "get healthy."
On more recent occasions, Johnson has similarly had little to say about when Gordon might be able to get on the practice field. Maybe there's just nothing new to say, which would be its own concern. Or maybe there's something deeper-seeded going on regarding the relationship between the team and Gordon.
Ben Johnson continues to say it all about Kyler Gordon (by saying so little)
After the preseason opener, when asked about Gordon's timeline to return to practice, Johnson simply called it "unknown." Of course, questions along those lines will come every time Johnson speaks to the media until further notice, and it happened with ESPN's Courtney Cronin being the one to make the initial inquiry.
The entire exchange with Cronin spanned 10 seconds, with Johnson answering an incomplete question a couple of times.
Cronin: “Can you provide any more update on Kyler Gordon? We pretty much got a non-update…"
Johnson: “Yeah, there’s nothing to add right now."
Cronin: “Do you have any interaction with him or see…”
Johnson: “Yeah, I see him in the building.”
Cronin: “Do you feel like he is progressing?”
Johnson: "There’s a plan, and he’s working towards that plan.”
Another reporter followed up by asking Johnson, "What does he (Gordon) do right now?" and the Bears' head coach said, "He's rehabbing."
Johnson knows the questions about Gordon's injury status will come. He's also clearly just about out of patience with the situation, not to mention being basically out of anything (insightful or otherwise) to say about it.
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Johnson was a little more loquacious about Gordon; 25 words to answer four questions. But that brings his total documented word count on the subject over the last three weeks or so to about 40, which says it all about the situation right now.
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