This was a look of pure frustration: Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles standing on a podium Tuesday morning at Halas Hall and seeming deflated by the idea that one of his most talented defensive playmakers may not be able to help his football team much this season.

Kyler Gordon’s official status hasn’t changed. Since training camp opened six weeks ago, Gordon has been designated as “physically unable to perform” because of what the team has said is a nagging calf issue.

The timeline for Gordon’s potential return remains in doubt. In fact, as Poles indicated Tuesday, the possibility that he doesn’t play at all is on the table.

Bears GM Ryan Poles on Caleb Williams’ training camp

Kevin Fishbain

Asked directly if he was convinced Gordon was going to play this season, Poles shrugged.

“I don’t know,” he said.

Just saying those three words seemed to take the wind out of the GM. Three damning words, too, if you consider the kind of gritty, driven, lay-it-all-on-the-line culture coach Ben Johnson has fought to establish since arriving a little more than 19 months ago.

Sure, there was a tack-on to Poles’ “I don’t know” response Tuesday.

“I hope so,” he said. “I still have hope there.”

But that state of mind felt much less powerful than the prevailing doubt inside Halas Hall, particularly with the GM publicly acknowledging a disconnect between the team’s outlook and the player’s.

And when asked for specifics on why Gordon’s return from a calf issue remains so iffy, Poles spoke in the vaguest of terms. “When people come back from injuries, there are different things that happen,” he said. “Sometimes they return fast; sometimes they’re slow. So it’s really a timing thing and a healing thing and confidence thing.”

At that moment, it felt as if another collective sigh blew through Chicago and the surrounding area.

Where does this saga go next?

This is Gordon, the very first player Poles drafted in 2022 — at No. 39 — with the GM gushing on that April night about the cornerback’s instincts and versatility and “reactive athleticism.” Poles also praised Gordon as passionate, tough, team-oriented. He tacked on reliable for added emphasis.

This is Gordon, whom the Bears believed in so much before last season that they gave him $31.3 million guaranteed as part of a three-year, $40 million contract extension even before he participated in his first practice for Johnson or new coordinator Dennis Allen.

“He’s a guy I believe is ascending and will continue to grow when he gets into this new defense,” Poles said, less than two weeks after that deal was agreed upon. “I think his game can go to the next level.”

That was the vision. That was the plan. Yet on Tuesday, everything Poles said had a far different tone. He was so much less enthusiastic, so much more resigned. He seemed ready to accept the possibility that one of his most talented defensive pieces won’t fit into the puzzle.

Keep in mind, Gordon missed 14 regular-season games last season. From the start of training camp until the end of the playoffs, he dealt with hamstring, calf and groin injuries. He missed the first four games of the season, played consecutive games in October, but was placed on injured reserve for the first time in Week 8.

Then, after a one-game return in late November in Philadelphia, Gordon was a late scratch from the Bears’ Dec. 7 game at Green Bay. During pregame warmups that afternoon, he felt discomfort in his groin and was ruled out after the team had declared him active for the game.

The following week: back to IR.

Eventually, Gordon made an encouraging return in the playoffs. In fact, Bears coaches loved what they saw during the team’s final game last season, with Gordon instrumental in a strong defensive effort that stifled league MVP Matthew Stafford and a high-powered Rams offense.

Gordon contributed seven tackles, including a big 13-yard sack of Stafford on a second-quarter third down. His energy was notable.

But now, a little more than seven months later? After an interrupted spring and an absentee training camp? Even one of Gordon’s biggest longtime believers is struggling to bring clarity to a confounding situation.

“Again,” Poles said Tuesday, “I’m not going to get all into the details of this. I really wish I had more for you all. But any time you have an injury and you’re coming back from something, there’s discomfort you have to push through. And that’s what it comes down to. We haven’t been able to get over that hump.”

To this point, Gordon has not shared his side of the story and whether he sees that same hump in his current recovery process or if, to him, it feels more like a large hill or even a mountain.

At a minimum, with the veteran defensive back moved Sunday to the reserve PUP list, his earliest possible return would come after four games. In the middle of October, for the true “save the date” optimists. In the meantime, rookie Malik Muhammad is being given the opportunity to start in the slot and continues to draw praise from coaches for his competitiveness, aggressiveness and edge.

Gordon’s status remains TBD. PUP for now. His GM and coach certainly seem aggravated.

“We’re not progressing as fast as we’d like,” Poles said Tuesday. “That’s really all I have to say.”