For a polynomial $P$ of degree greater than one, we show the existence of patterns of the form $(x,x+t,x+P(t))$ with a gap estimate on $t$ in positive density subsets of the reals. This is an extension of an earlier result of Bourgain. Our proof is a combination of Bourgain's approach and more recent methods that were originally developed for the study of the bilinear Hilbert transform along curves.