Time for playing games with Bears cornerbacks needs to end now

“I think there's a scenario where he'll be ready for Week 1," Ben Johnson said of the two-time Pro Bowl cornerback. That's really the target date. I know he's working hard and diligently to get there for that, and with those types of injuries that he has, you just never know. You never know. So, it's still early in that process, but I know he's attacking that rehab really well.”

A scenario where he's ready for Week 1 means it's an injury requiring about six weeks to heal. He hasn't been in practice, which started July 23. And actually, it was before that when he was injured. The first week of the season begins with practice Sept. 1 or 2, depending on how many days they are given off prior to the Monday Night Football opener.

When Johnson says there is a scenario that he's ready, you have to wonder, then, how many scenarios there are where he isn't ready and the fate that leaves for the Bears. Here's what they'd face Sept. 8.

• Playing against Kevin O'Connell's passing attack with at least one backup on the field and a secondary just learning to handle Allen's defensive coverages and scheme.

• Trying to play a lot of man-to-man without their lockdown cornerback available to go against Justin Jefferson, while Kyler Gordon or Tyrique Stevenson must handle Jordan Addison, Rondale Moore and Jalen Nailor.

Nashon Wright has been playing Jaylon Johnson's vacated position. This is a surprise because Terell Smith had been the first outside cornerback off the bench the last two seasons.

"I think, first and foremost, he was here all offseason and in that position all offseason," Allen said.

This was referring specifically to Smith, who wasn't available or wasn't on the field for OTAs. His absence was never explained individually but there were several players with soft tissue injuries at the time he first was away.

"I look at the depth chart right now as just a starting spot," Allen said. "I really don’t look at it as anything set in any sort of concrete or anything like that. Throughout the course of training camp, you’ll see guys moving around, switching around.

"Sometimes, we might want to see a guy who has been running with the 2s, we might want to see him against the 1s to see against a little bit better competition how they respond. And, so, that’s just part of what we do throughout the course of training camp."

This was the case during the last week when Nick McCloud took reps at the outside cornerback spot where Jaylon Johnson plays, rather than Wright. They even had starter Tyrique Stevenson with backups and looked at Shaun Wade with starters, but McCloud was a player Allen seemed to like

"Here's a guy that in the spring I wasn't sure exactly what he was going to be," Allen said. "But he's come back (to camp) in great shape. He understands the defense. He's doing all of the things that Al's (DB coach Harris) coaching him to do, which is allowing him to be successful.

"So I feel much better about that than I didn't in the spring and, look, we've still got some improvement to do."

Allen painted a picture possibly a bit overly optimistic for two cornerbacks who have had chances to impress in the NFL and failed. Wright was with Dallas for three years, traded to the Vikings last year and started only three games in his career. He was a third-round pick who has been on the field for defense only 269 total plays in four years and only 50 the last two years. The Vikings were starved for cornerback help and couldn't use him even if he is a rare 6-foot-4 cornerback.

At 6-4, he only had a 31-inch 2021 combine vertical leap, which doesn't give him quite the advantage a 5-foot-11 cornerback with a 38-inch vertical would have covering a taller receiver.

McCloud has had better experience than Wright, with 16 starts in 48 games played over four years. He was an undrafted player who had his most experience with the Giants' struggling secondary but was waived. The 49ers had him after that and didn't bring him back for 2025.

In the meantime, Smith made some nice plays on the ball at practice on Wednesday and Thursday. He had an interception and also a PBU.

Regardless of OTAs and attendance or injuries back then, it's nearing the end of Week 2 in training camp and time to be more serious about the players who really are going to be on the field against the Vikings should Jaylon Johnson's scenario be one of those where he's not available to cover Justin Jefferson.

And while they're at it, maybe they should quit yanking around Stevenson between the first and second team as they did this past week.

He's all they've got right now for experienced cornerbacks. He has played a lot more than McCloud and Wright, with 1,640 plays to their 1,343 combined.