Bears nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon a late scratch vs. Packers as secondary has turbulent game

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Bears were looking pretty healthy on defense heading into their game Sunday against the Packers — until pregame warmups.

Nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon was scratched just before kickoff after hurting his groin while warming up and missed his 10th game of the season. The Bears played C.J. Gardner-Johnson in his place, and he ended the Packers' opening possession by intercepting a pass from Jordan Love.

Other than that, it was a rough day for the secondary in a 28-21 loss as Love completed 17-of-25 passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns for a 120.7 passer rating. He has topped 113 in passer rating in 4 of 5 career games against the Bears.

Gordon was out for the first four games because of a hamstring injury, returned for two games, then missed five games with a calf injury. He came off injured reserve to play against the Eagles on Nov. 28 and practiced last week with no issues.

“The next guys were popping up and they answered the call, but Kyler’s a really good player, and we’re better when he’s out on the field,” coach Ben Johnson said. “When it happens in pre-game like that, it also takes you down a man. ... It’s a shame that it happened like it did.”

The Bears had several snags in the secondary, due to either miscommunication or defensive backs losing one-on-one matchups. Wide receiver Christian Watson caught touchdown passes of 23 and 41 yards, and Bo Melton burned them for a 45-yard touchdown.

Bears safety Jaquan Brisker said the secondary was “slow” and “our eyes were bad” before sharpening in the third quarter.

The Bears continued ramping up cornerback Jaylon Johnson’s workload — he said he felt “solid” with increased playing time — after his return against the Eagles. Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson remained out with a shoulder injury for the second game in a row.

Starting cornerback Nahshon Wright got hurt late in the game, but Johnson didn’t seem worried and said the Bears came out of it “pretty clean health-wise.”