Chicago Bears wide receiver Chase Claypool was not at Soldier Field on Sunday to watch his team blow a 21-point lead in a 31-28 loss to the Denver Broncos.

The Bears said they asked Claypool to stay home after deciding he would be a healthy scratch for the first time this season.

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Bears coach Matt Eberflus originally said the team told Claypool “it was a choice (whether to attend), and he’s at home right now.” But a media relations staffer later clarified the team gave the instruction to stay home.

Eberflus, however, said he expects Claypool to be at Halas Hall on Monday as the Bears prepare for the Washington Commanders on Thursday.

The Bears benching Claypool came after he answered “no” when asked Friday if the team was using him in the best way to showcase his talents.

When asked what coaches can do to better utilize him as the offense looks for a spark, he said, “I’ll let them decide that. I’m not going to give any pointers. That’s their job to decide, and I’ll just do what they tell me to do.”

Claypool then was asked if he was not in an ideal situation.

“Every situation has the ability to be ideal, and I think we’re just working toward that,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it’s not an ideal place for me. Obviously there’s other places — you can say, ‘Oh, I want to be on the best offense with the highest passing yards,’ but that doesn’t happen in football. You just have to make do with what you’ve got.”

Eberflus said Claypool did not know when he spoke with reporters that he was going to be inactive and said the comments did not factor into the Bears’ decision to bench him. The Bears made wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown active Sunday instead of Claypool, and Eberflus said they made the decision based on their evaluations of meetings and practices during the week and what gives the Bears “the best chance to win.”

Bears quarterback Justin Fields said he called Claypool after “whatever happened” to check on him.

“I was just checking up on him, making sure he was in good spirits,” Fields said. “Regarding his comments and everything, I don’t know if they are or not, but one thing I do know is everybody in the building is trying to reach their full potential. So players, coaches. Coaches are trying to get the most out of every player, and then us as players, we’re trying to get the most out of ourselves and be the best we can.”

In three games, Claypool has four catches for 51 yards and a touchdown on 14 targets. He drew criticism from inside and outside the Bears organization for a Week 1 performance against the Green Bay Packers in which he had a drop and missed blocks and appeared to show poor effort.

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Claypool talked to people throughout the organization following that game. That included general manager Ryan Poles, who said on the team’s pregame radio show in Week 2, “I would say really for anyone on our team, there’s a standard for how we’re going to play football here, and if you can’t rise to that standard and live in that space, it’s going to be hard to perform for the Chicago Bears.”

Fields said he “of course” wants Claypool on the team.

“Chase, he’s a weapon,” Fields said. “He’s passionate. He just has to work on his display of his emotions, and me and him have had multiple conversations with that. But as far as do I want him on the team? That’s an easy answer. Yes, of course.”