Bears insist on keeping Tyrique Stevenson’s status under wraps

“I’m not going to talk about who’s going to start there at that specific spot,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “Again, I spoke to Tyrique. He has had a very good week of practice. He’s done a good job refocusing.

“And I appreciate his efforts moving into the next phase, which is Arizona.”

Eberflus was asked about the significance of who started the season opener at cornerback. Stevenson did not start in that game and Terell Smith did, but Stevenson came in shortly after the game started.

Stevenson also missed the London match, but that was due to a calf injury suffered during training.

“We have rotations for a reason,” Eberflus said. “It could be competition. A man may come back and his workload may have to be reduced.

“It could be different things.”

Eberflus was a bit more open about injuries. The Bears could get Kyler Gordon back at slot cornerback Friday after a limited practice, his first since a hamstring injury in London. He’s doubtful. Defensive player Montez Sweat is also questionable due to a shin injury that kept him from making the game-winning play last week. He had one limited practice Thursday but no others and the Bears are counting on the 48 hours until the game to help with recovery so their top pass rusher can start.

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Safety The absence of Jaquan Brisker will once again raise a few eyebrows. He hasn’t played since Oct. 6 after suffering his third concussion.

“It’s really just about the symptom part,” Eberflus said. “It really is. Again, he’s made progress. He’s gone to the meetings, he’s done the walkthrough and gotten into those things and then has those symptoms.

“Again, it’s always about his safety and his health and where he is. Jaquan brings a lot of passion and energy to our team and certainly to our defense. He had a really good year leading up to this. His health and safety comes first and we want to make sure we get that right first. And then he’ll bring back that passion and energy like he always does.”

The other big question is what their offensive line will look like. Eberflus echoed offensive coordinator Shane Waldron in saying they prefer to keep the subs one at a time rather than create confusion by moving a starter to a different position, causing two position changes.

They will have left out Braxton Jones due to a knee injury and backup Kiran Amegadjie has a calf injury. So it seems likely that Larry Borom will play after spending the entire season on injured reserve with an ankle issue dating back to training camp.

This would allow them to keep Matt Pryor at right guard. The only downside here could be if the knee injury Teven Jenkins has is too serious for him to play. He didn’t practice on Thursday and was limited on Friday.

Depth at guard may be limited and it was thought that backup guard Ryan Bates could come off injured reserve as his window has opened to be reinstated.

“We’ll see where Ryan is,” Eberflus said. “Ryan’s first day there when he moved was today, so we’ll see where that goes.”

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