Three Bears Problems Solved or Tabled

Bears GM Ryan Poles has two issues taken care of and another one has sort of taken care of itself in his mind, but could return in the future.

Bears GM Ryan Poles in very short order has cleared up three key issues plaguing the team.

At least two are settled. The other has a continuance and that's Roquan Smith's contract discussions.

Poles can say a little more decisively what N'Keal's playing status is now and also without doubt that Teven Jenkins is not being traded.

"I had a good conversation with him and I told him how proud I was of him," Poles said. "Again, I think it's about building the best five (linemen). I think we have a good five with him at guard.

"So I think it's good for us to have Teven at guard right now."

Poles doesn't rule out Jenkins ever being a tackle again, but for now it's guard.

"We probably look at that as more of a holistic thing, more than anything," he said. "It's, how can we make the best five? We did a lot of shuffling around. Everyone was aware of that. When we got to this point and he was in at guard, I thought some good things happened on the field in some of the games.

"I'm happy for him. Again, that's part of that changed I talked about that's difficult. Guys got shuffled around and moved up front, in the back, and we are trying to find our best five. The way we got to that Cleveland game, we felt pretty good about it. I'm really happy for him and the progress he's made. He's settling in well and I think he's gonna help us there."

Harry had an ankle injury and surgery, yet was still on the roster and the Bears are hurting for receiver depth. On Thursday, they put him on injured reserve but at the time they did it, after the cuts have been made, they could designate him for return and so he will come back after rehab from the injury.

"Once he gets healthy, the main thing is just getting him healthy and back on the field," assistant GM Ian Cunningham said. "What he showed when he was in practice during training camp: Physical specimen, strong at the catch point. It's just unfortunate that the injury happened. But we look forward to having him back on the field."

And that is?

"It's hard to tell right now," Poles said. "We have the designated to return (label) on him. So we've got to wait a few weeks and then when he's healthy, he'll get back out there."

The other issue is not so clear or easily put away. What pleased Poles is that Smith did it for him at least for now.

"We're in a place now—and I think Roquan he said it perfectly—we've shifted gears and it's all ball now," Poles said. "So it really doesn't make sense to go back and go through all that. And the one thing—he doesn't get enough credit for being able to change gears like that and going out and just playing football and doing it the right way.

"I'm proud of him for handling that way and he's out there and we’re better because of that, so I really don't want to go back into the whole contract thing."

It's not so easily tossed away in everyone else's mind though, especially with the tough talk going on by Smith a few weeks ago when he did announce discussions had ended

"It's human nature," Poles said." When things happen and two sides don't agree on something, it's gonna take a little time to do that.

"I got a lot of faith that that's going to happen, and I'm excited for it."

Whether Smith feels the same way will be known in the future, but Poles continued buttering him up for the future talks and that's a good idea.

"First of all, he's a good player," Poles said. "That's never changed. And he's a good dude. I have faith that he's gonna have a good year and we'll work on our relationship and all that.

"It's not even a bad things, either. We've all been there, right? You have disagreements and you have to come back together and be teammates. That's what I expect."

The question now after tabling this whole thing is whether they'll all be teammates after this season.

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