Why Kyler Gordon Returning From Injury May Not Matter Anymore

The disappointment is immeasurable, as the famous meme says. Cornerback Kyler Gordon didn’t practice in the spring. He didn’t practice in the summer and then didn’t play in the preseason. Fans held out hope the Chicago Bears might at least have him for opening day. That crashed and burned as Gordon was never activated off the Physically-Unable to-Perform list. That means he will miss at least the first four games of 2026, pushing his total to 18 in the past two seasons. It is crystal clear at this point that the organization is losing patience with him.

If you weren’t sure how much, Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune just hammered it home. While cutting Gordon is next to impossible because of the salary cap ramifications, odds are growing that he may find himself on the bench even if he returns at some point.

It’s to the point that over the next 24 hours, nothing would surprise me with Gordon. I rather doubt the team would choose the nuclear option and release him. Such a move would have serious salary-cap ramifications for a team that is tight as it is. There’s no way to trade a player with a guaranteed salary of $10 million who hasn’t been on the field since January.

There’s also nothing that convinces me Gordon will for certain play football for the Bears this season. Johnson won’t give more than one- or two-word replies when asked about him. Teammates have described Gordon’s situation as “bizarre.”

This isn’t really a surprise. Head coach Ben Johnson has said he wants players he trusts on the field. Gordon has done nothing to earn the Bears’ trust since he took over last year. The team already made moves to shore up the nickel position with Cam Lewis and rookie Malik Muhammad. If Gordon is content to do nothing, he can keep doing so even after he returns.

Kyler Gordon might be undergoing the fastest fall from grace.

Think about it. In August of 2025, things were riding high. The cornerback had just received a massive contract extension from the team. It was confirmation that he was considered one of the best nickels in football. In a span of 12 months, he went from that to persona non grata. Fans have already turned on him, long tired of the growing list of injuries that shouldn’t plague modern athletes. Not with the vast array of resources at their disposal to aid recovery. This either means Gordon is incredibly brittle or incredibly unmotivated to return.

If you follow the breadcrumbs around Halas Hall, it sounds like plenty of people think it’s the latter. Adam Hoge recently compared it to the Nate Davis situation a couple of years ago. The guy always had something going on, and the Bears eventually got fed up. They cut him in 2024, and he hasn’t played a down in the NFL since. Has Kyler Gordon lost his desire to play after getting that massive guaranteed payday? It wouldn’t be the first time such a thing has happened.

This entire situation is an indictment of Ryan Poles.

The Bears’ GM has invested plenty of resources into the defense since arriving in 2022. Most of the biggest ones have looked pretty bad.

Not a great look at all. It is a major reason the team hadn’t achieved much until last season, and that was mostly due to the offense. Gordon was Poles’ first pick. He was pretty solid for a stretch during his first three seasons, but it’s apparent that player is long gone. Poles was the one who decided to hand him an extension rather than wait it out one more season. Now the Bears are stuck with it.