The Chicago Bears are still not saying much about when they expect cornerback Kyler Gordon back from his soft-tissue injury, but one team insider is starting to doubt his chances of beginning the 2026 season on their 53-man roster.
Gordon still has not set foot on the practice field at training camp for the Bears due to a nagging calf injury that held him out of their offseason program in the spring. He also currently does not have a timeline for his return, creating frustrations in the building.
“Yeah, there’s nothing to add right now,” Bears head coach Ben Johnson said August 18 when asked about him, adding: “There’s a plan, and he’s working toward that plan.”
In light of that vague “plan,” though, The Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs raised doubts that the 26-year-old cornerback will even be on the Bears’ initial 53-man roster when they make their cuts and other injury decisions at the roster deadline on August 30.
“Considering we’re in the middle of the second week of the preseason and Gordon remains on the PUP list, I’d say chances of him being on the 53 for Week 1 are fading by the day,” Biggs wrote August 20. “Remember, Gordon was tracking to return last summer from a soft-tissue injury suffered in the first week of August, and then he had a hamstring injury flare up before the Week 1 game against the Minnesota Vikings.”
Bears & Kyler Gordon Both ‘Frustrated’ About Injury
The Bears have largely avoided detailed answers when fielding questions about Gordon and his health over the past weeks of camp. Even defensive coordinator Dennis Allen hasn’t had much to say about Gordon when asked about his injury status or return.
“I just know he’s going through the rehab process quite honestly,” Allen said August 19. “I haven’t — that’s something that I can’t really put a lot of thought into right now. I’ve got to focus on the guys that we have. I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to get him back sooner rather than later, and yet that’s not anything that I control, so my pure focus has been on the guys that are out there and what we’re doing with those guys.”
The frustration, however, has become apparent inside Halas Hall.
Multiple Bears beat reporters have also written or spoken about the team’s frustrations with Gordon’s injury situation. CHGO’s Adam Hoge described the team as “a little fed up” with not having Gordon available at camp on Chicago’s 104.3 The Score last week.
The Bigs’ Herb Howard told The Score something similar about Gordon this week.
“I don’t know if it is just injury or a mixture of injury and miscommunication, or whatever is going on, it’s gotta get solved because he can really, really help them,” Howard said Wednesday. “But I can tell not only are the coaches and the front office frustrated just seeing him for the 10-15 minutes I saw him in the locker room, he’s very frustrated, too.”
“I can tell not only are the coaches and the front office frustrated, just seeing him for the 10-15 minutes in the locker room, he’s very frustrated too.”
Kyler Gordon Seems Likely to Start 2026 Season on IR
With less than two weeks left before the roster cutdown, it is difficult to dispute Biggs’ assertion that Gordon may not open the 2026 season on the Bears’ 53-man roster.
As of August 20, Gordon is still on the active/physically unable to return (PUP) list with the calf injury that has caused so much frustration for all sides. Even if he were to return to practice before the end of this week — which seems highly unlikely — he would likely need more practice time than the Bears have left to get his feet back under him.
That leaves a stint on injured reserve as Gordon’s most likely outcome. The Bears could place him on short-term injured reserve before the roster cutdown and give him one of their two return designations. Alternatively, they could carry him on the roster and then place him on IR, a move that makes sense if they think he’ll miss more than four weeks.
In the worst-case scenario, though, the Bears place Gordon on injured reserve without a return designation during 53-man roster cuts and shut him down for the entire season.
The Bears must reduce their roster to the 53-man limit before 6 p.m. ET on August 30.
Bears Insider Casts Doubt on Kyler Gordon’s Roster Chances