Nate Davis showed up Sunday with a back injury. On Wednesday, the Chicago Bears cut him

Chicago Bears offensive lineman Nate Davis showed up to Soldier Field on Sunday morning with a back injury. Davis reported back tightness ahead of a matchup with the New England Patriots.

Davis had not been on the injury report all week. At the same time, the Bears were dealing with some serious depth issues along the offensive line. Both starting offensive tackles were ruled out with knee injuries ahead of the game. To make matters worse, starting left guard Teven Jenkins exited midgame with an ankle injury.

Davis, however, was unavailable for backup duties.

Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said team trainers looked at Davis on Sunday morning and ruled him out ahead of the game. The Bears then sent him home.

“He was sent home because you don’t want a guy standing on two feet with a back issue,” Eberflus said.

“He was sent home because you don’t want a guy standing on two feet with a back issue.”

—  Matt Eberflus, Bears head coach

It appeared to be the final straw.

Three days later, Davis is a free agent. The Bears cut the 28-year-old offensive lineman Wednesday, less than two seasons into his three-year, $30 million contract.

For Davis, it was a tumultuous 19 months in Chicago. Bears fans probably could make the argument that their offensive line issues this season – which reached a low point in Sunday’s loss to New England – really began with Davis.

Davis was the highest-paid offensive lineman on the team, yet found himself benched just two games into the 2024 season. He missed portions of training camp because of injury but started the season opener and a Week 2 contest in Houston. His performance, however, did not meet expectations. It was almost an exact repeat of what happened a year earlier.

In 2023, Davis missed most of training camp because of a personal issue. He returned in time to start the season opener, but he clearly was rusty. Davis wound up starting 11 games in 2023, missing several games midseason because of an ankle injury.

When a similar start to the season arose in 2024, however, Eberflus’ patience may have worn thin. Davis found himself benched in Week 3. He played sparingly over the next couple of games and hasn’t appeared in a game since Oct. 6 against the Panthers at Soldier Field.

It appears Eberflus wasn’t done sending a message this week. He promised changes to his offense Monday, without elaborating what exactly that might look like.

First, he fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron on Tuesday, promoting passing game coordinator Thomas Brown to OC. A day later, he and general manager Ryan Poles sent Davis packing. The Bears won’t be responsible for about $11 million owed to Davis next season, but they did pay him about $19 million to start 13 games over a year and a half, according to OverTheCap.com.

Signing Davis will go down as one of Poles’ worst moves as general manager, along with the decision to trade for receiver Chase Claypool in 2022.

Poles, who is a former offensive lineman himself, said when he took the job in 2022 that he wanted to build this team in the trenches first. Davis was his biggest free agency splurge along the offensive line. This was a player he hoped he could count on as a veteran presence on an otherwise young offensive line.

Nineteen months later, the Bears are parting ways with Davis.