Something was always off about the Teven Jenkins situation with the Chicago Bears. As the 2nd round tackle missed practice after practice, the team kept calling it back tightness. That is when news began to filter out that the tackle missed three games at Oklahoma State with a lumbar strain. Despite this, the Bears traded up to get him anyway. As two weeks passed and he remained sidelined, people started to see the writing on the wall.

There was no way this was “tightness.” Something was wrong and it was likely the tackle was going to get surgery of some kind. A belief reinforced after Saturday’s preseason win over Miami when they signed veteran tackle Jason Peters. Sure enough, head coach Matt Nagy faced the media on Wednesday. Jenkins would be undergoing back surgery. While a considerable setback, the hope is the rookie will still be able to return this season.

Coach Nagy announced that Teven Jenkins will be undergoing back surgery today saying, "The goal is to get him back this season."

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) August 18, 2021

#Bears coach Matt Nagy said that Teven Jenkins is going to get back surgery today.

"It's a common procedure that is going to be done locally. We tried to hope to avoid the surgery with him and we tried several treatments, but the goal is to get him back this season."

— Nicholas Moreano (@NicholasMoreano) August 18, 2021

Bears hope that their rookie second-round pick can make it back in November, but there’s a real chance his season is over.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 18, 2021

It seems the entire press conference was one giant kick to the gut.

Nagy also informed the media that Eddie Goldman was hurt again. This time with a back problem of his own. Cole Kmet is dealing with a hamstring issue and Justin Field has a minor groin problem. Though the QB is still expected to play this weekend vs. Buffalo. On top of all that, Nagy didn’t offer any details on what happened to Akiem Hicks. The veteran defensive end left practice on Tuesday for an unknown reason.

The lone silver lining is the injury Jenkins has suffered shouldn’t drastically impact his NFL career. Once he has the surgery and is fully recovered, he should return to the form that made him a high draft choice in the first place. From there the hope is it doesn’t dog him moving forward. Something that has proven an issue for offensive linemen in the past. The Bears should know, having seen it with Chris Williams over a decade ago.

Nagy was asked if Jenkins' injury could impact his NFL career moving forward:

"From everything that I'm hearing it sounds very, very positive … Once this happens and you get this surgery, that things should be fixed and pretty good. That's the good part in this whole thing." https://t.co/6HkeZbbxEE

— Nicholas Moreano (@NicholasMoreano) August 18, 2021

Teven Jenkins reveals the dark side to Ryan Pace

While the Bears GM has his positive sides, there is an element to his approach that remains infuriating for fans and experts alike. His brazen disregard for risk. The man has a bad tendency to not only draft players with red flags, but he’ll even trade up to get them. He did so with Mitch Trubisky in 2017 despite his obvious inexperience. Now he does so with Jenkins despite clear concerns regarding his back.

This is why people no longer trust anything the Bears say. Their blatant misdirection campaign on Teven Jenkins now makes both Pace and Nagy look like idiots. Something that could’ve been avoided had they been more open with the details. Instead, all the information comes pouring out today.

There is now a strong likelihood their top three draft picks don’t play Week 1.

Fields because of him being benched behind Andy Dalton and Larry Borom hasn’t practiced either due to a concussion. This is not the start to 2021 the Bears were hoping for. The season hasn’t even begun yet and their roster is battered by injuries. They better hope Jenkins manages to overcome this rough start or it may go down as one of the worst picks Pace ever made. Which is saying something.