Breaking: Ryan Poles Breaks Silence on Nate Davis, Jaquan Brisker Decisions

Safety Jaquan Brisker going on injured reserve felt like a long time coming. Brisker, who self-reported concussion symptoms one day after the Bears’ Week 5 win against the Carolina Panthers, has missed the team’s last four games (and will miss at least the next four now that he is on IR). ESPN’s Courtney Cronin transcribes what Poles had to say about Brisker’s situation:

“It just wasn’t making the progress that we wanted. We also know from a performance standpoint, when you’re out of football for a while, there has to be a ramp up period to get your body in shape, to play the game and avoid other injuries such as soft tissue injuries. So we’re going to hit the pause button, make sure that he’s in a good space because our number one thing is to make sure that our players are in a healthy place to play this game at a hundred percent.

So we’re going to slow this down and take time and allow him to take his time to come back. Would love to see him back this year, but we’re just going to take it one week at a time.”

Oof! It certainly doesn’t sound like there is much optimism that Brisker will be back in 2024. To be clear, Poles doesn’t rule it out. But it sounds like the Bears hitting the reset button in this situation means that things aren’t progressing in a way that would have him back in the lineup soon. Perhaps the time on injured reserve will be good for all parties as everyone tries to get a full grasp on this situation.

The other notable thing Ryan Poles discussed in the pregame show was the Nate Davis situation. In case you missed it: The Bears cut Davis on Wednesday. Much like Brisker’s stint on IR felt like a long time coming, so too did the Nate Davis cut. Davis was out of a starting job after Week 2, and was made inactive starting in Week 6. And just when the team was ready to turn back to him, it was Davis pulling back. This was one of those situations where it was clear that a clean breakup was necessary. This is what Poles had to say about the matter (via CHGO’s Adam Hoge):

I truly hope that Poles, the rest of his front office, and his coaching staff learn from this situation. The Bears clearly need to go back to the drawing board and reconsider what they are looking for in free agents, offensive linemen, and free-agent offensive linemen. Because whatever process led this front office to go after Nate Davis led them astray and they can’t afford to let it happen again.

It’s a shame because the Bears gave Davis every opportunity to latch on to a roster spot. And at every turn, Davis came up short. Hence, he is a free agent after clearing waivers.