The signs have been building to suggest the Chicago Bears and cornerback Kyler Gordon are heading for a parting of ways. Head coach Ben Johnson is continually unable to hide his frustration about the situation, and Gordon appeared to troll the team with social media workout videos after being placed on IR to start the season.
The overriding question about Gordon had been when his lingering calf issue would be healed enough for him to return to practice. That answer came on Wednesday, when the Bears opened his 21-day activation window.
It's safe to assume Gordon will not play in Week 4 against the New York Jets. Week 5 against the Green Bay Packers could be a possibility, but even that feels aggressive due to how much time he has missed.
With the bye week in Week 6, the Bears using the full 21-day window, or at least close to it, to ramp up and evaluate Gordon seems very likely. However, he was listed as a full participant in Thursday's practice.
Dennis Allen said what he pretty much has to say about Kyler Gordon's return to practice
During his press conference on Thursday, Allen was asked when he found out Gordon would be back on the practice field and what he needs to see. He said more words than Johnson has said about Gordon since June.
"Yeah, I think it was sometime last week, maybe the week before, they said he'd be back in the building this week and ready to start practicing" Allen said. "I think where we're at he's got to ramp up and get into football shape."
"We did a little extra work with him yesterday. I thought he looked good,” Allen continued. “I thought the way he went out there and practiced was good to see. He moved around really well. The biggest thing is it just takes him a little bit of time to get into football shape. So we'll do that."
"We got 21 days to figure it out and make a decision, and we’ll use whatever time we need to to evaluate where he’s at. Hopefully he’ll be ready sooner rather than later. I think he’s a player that can help us.”
Johnson has sounded done with the Gordon situation. Allen, however, as expected since he's the defensive coordinator, is taking a different public track.
"I've got extreme confidence in what he can do when he's out there on the field", Allen said, via Chris Emma of 104.3 The Score. "And so that's never wavered. I think as we all know, the biggest thing for Kyler is for him to be healthy and be able to stay healthy. And so that's kind of where the focus is."
Johnson once lamented hardly knowing Gordon due to his lack of availability, Allen is in the same boat, with the added layer of trying to piece together a cornerback room around not having his top slot corner. Things have gone better on that front so far this season, with Cam Lewis and rookie Malik Muhammad performing solidly, so Gordon will have to earn his job back along with getting/staying healthy.
Allen could've echoed Johnson and been short with words when it came to talking about Gordon. It also doesn't serve him to do that or to be anything other than optimistic about getting Gordon back.
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Time will tell how long the Bears' defensive coordinator's optimism about Gordon lasts. But now everyone has a clear timeline for Gordon to return to the active roster and, hopefully, game action, as a major uncertainty has been removed from the equation.
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