We might not know the whole truth about Chicago Bears T Teven Jenkins

Week 2 of Chicago Bears training camp is a full-go, but second-year offensive lineman Teven Jenkins is still not practicing.

After Wednesday’s practice, head coach Matt Eberflus told the media that Jenkins missed his sixth straight practice strictly because of an injury. Now, he knows he doesn’t have to disclose what type of injury just yet, so Eberflus chose not to.

While Eberflus is a stand-up guy, he’s also spoken with the media in regards to what he does and does not have to disclose during training camp. For the sake of being fair, Eberflus does not have to disclose much about injuries at this stage.

But, there could be another aspect to this situation.

Will Chicago Bears fans ever know the real truth about this odd Teven Jenkins situation?

If Jenkins is missing practice due to an injury, then why are the Bears publicly fielding phone calls for a trade?

Were there certain conversations behind closed doors that factored into Jenkins’ ultimate demotion back in the spring? Is that where this trade situation originally started brewing?

Ryan Poles originally alluded to Jenkins being the only guy who stood up for Justin Fields last season. Being a former offensive lineman himself, Poles knows how important it is to have that nastiness within.

But, somewhere, somehow, things took a turn between Jenkins and this new regime. Injury or no injury, it is pretty evident that neither Poles nor Eberflus believe in Jenkins.

When asked about Jenkins on Wednesday, Eberflus had this to say:

"“Anybody that misses time on the grass, that’s not good. It’s not good for the player, it’s not good for the team.”"

Prior to that statement, he did note that Jenkins’ absence was 100 percent injury-related.

But, again, the Bears would be foolish to be trying to trade a guy that’s hurt, having missed nearly two weeks of practices now.

Back to the point that something here doesn’t add up.

When Ian Rapoport tweeted that the Bears were fielding calls about a Jenkins trade, he noted that teams were interested due to “his potential.” Going back to Poles coming with plenty of college scouting experience and being a former lineman, wouldn’t one think that he could see Jenkins’ potential?

“What I’m hearing is that there’s a high level of disconnect between Teven and the new coaching staff, especially Chris Morgan, the new offensive line coach.” – David Kaplan, NBC Sports

The rumors coming out about Jenkins’ lack of maturity, via David Kaplan, seem to hold more weight here. Maybe this is an injury for Jenkins. Or maybe, he’s feeling almost 100 percent while dealing with a very, very minor issue and the Bears just want to rid themselves of his poor attitude.

So far, Poles and Eberflus have established a culture of hard work and accountability on the football field.

If Jenkins can’t hang with that type of culture, then this truly could be completely about his maturity level and not an injury.