Bears insist on keeping Tyreke Stevenson’s status secret

“I’m not going to talk about who’s going to start at that particular spot,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “I talked to Tyreek again. He had a really good week of training. He did a good job of refocusing.

“And I appreciate his efforts to move on to the next stage – Arizona.”

Eberflus was asked about the significance of starting his first season at fullback. Stevenson did not start in that game and Terell Smith did start, but Stevenson took the field shortly after the game started.

Stevenson also missed the game in London, but this was due to a calf injury sustained in training.

“We have rotation for a reason,” Eberflus said. “It could be competition. Perhaps the guy is coming back and needs to reduce his workload.

“It could be any number of things.”

Eberflus was a little more forthcoming about the injuries. The Bears could return Kyler Gordon to guard after a limited practice Friday, his first since suffering a hamstring injury in London. He’s doubtful. Defensive end Montez Sweet is also questionable with a calf injury that kept him out of last week’s crucial game. He had one limited practice Thursday but no others, and the Bears are looking to the 48 hours before the game to help with healing so their top pass rusher can start.

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Safety Haquan Brisker’s absence will once again raise some eyebrows. He hasn’t played since Oct. 6 after suffering his third concussion.

“It’s really just about the symptoms,” Eberflus said. “This is actually true. Again, he made progress. He came to the meetings, he came to the walkthrough, he did these things, and then he developed these symptoms.”

“Again, it will always be about his safety and health and where he is. Haquan brings a lot of passion and energy to our team and of course to our defense. He had a really good year before that. His health and safety comes first and we want to make sure we handle that well first and then he will bring back the passion and energy he always has for us.”

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

They will be without left tackle Braxton Jones with a knee injury and backup Kiran Amegaji with a calf injury. So Larry Borom will likely play after spending the entire season on injured reserve with an ankle injury that occurred during training camp.

This would allow them to keep Matt Pryor at right guard. The only fly in the ointment may be that Teven Jenkins’ knee injury is too serious to allow him to play. He did not practice Thursday and was limited Friday.

Defensive depth could be limited, and backup cornerback Ryan Bates was believed to be able to come off injured reserve as his window opened for reinstatement.

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

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