Over the course of the offseason and into the season, Ben Johnson's tone about cornerback Kyler Gordon shifted from a fairly shiny idea of not being able to get to know him to outright concise frustration.
The Bears opened Gordon's 21-day window to come off the PUP list on September 30. The decision to activate linebacker Noah Sewell off the PUP list for Week 5 instead of Gordon was a bit eye-opening, but also easily explained by Sewell's 21-day activation being closer to its end.
Johnson has been more talkative about Gordon lately, which is not coincidental given there has been actual progress toward him playing after there was none for months.
The clear priority is to do make sure Gordon not only gets healthy, but can stay healthy. For his part, defensive coordinator Dennis Allen sounded ready to have Gordon available to him when he spoke to reporters this week.
Ben Johnson offers expectedly vague Kyler Gordon update
Gordon has yet to be anything other than a full participant in practice since being able to participate. So being activated for Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons seems likely, and Johnson was naturally asked about it on Friday.
"He's done a great job taking everything we've assigned him so far. I feel good about him, whether that's this week or next week, being able to help us out...I'm encouraged with what I've seen so far."
After Friday, the Bears won't have another practice before Gordon's activation window expires next week. How much more needs to be seen to deem him able to play is unclear, and Jarrett Payton of 104.3 The Score was the latest person to wonder what's going on.
"What are we doing?" Payton said on Friday morning. "The communication is...this is crazy. We see 'full participant' on the sheets (practice reports). Why is he...if he is healthy, he needs to play. Does he want to play is probably the question. Maybe that's it, I don't know...the time is now. We're running out of time. It needs to be this week."
Earlier in the week on 104.3 The Score, beat reporter Herb Howard suggested the Bears may be testing Gordon's "commitment as much as they're testing his body." That idea makes sense, but it's also a fresh and unfortunate acknowledgement of an undeniable layer to the situation.
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Johnson didn't shut the door on it happening, say, next Tuesday at the 11th hour. But if Gordon isn't activated from the PUP list on Saturday, when such things are typically announced in a given week, the possibility it doesn't happen will move to the forefront. Between now and then, nothing we know right now will change the equation, and questions will persist.
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