Chicago Bears: Is injury bug hitting the team again already?
In a miserable 2016 season, the Chicago Bears suffered through an array of injuries. As they head into Week 1 of 2017, it appears the injury bug is hitting again.
The Chicago Bears suffered through a 3-13 season last year. They suffered in more ways than one. At the end of the season, they placed an astounding 19 players on injured reserve.
Many expected the Bears to have a better season not only because of the new faces on the roster but also because of the old faces who were injured last year. After all, they had a lot of key players on every unit who sat and watched teammates suffer through a calamitous season.
We hope general manager Ryan Pace made the right moves in trying to get the Bears back to their winning ways. Of course, only time will tell how good his moves were. While everyone focuses on the new faces on the team and how they’ll perform in 2017, one disturbing trend may be forming — the injury bug is hitting once again.
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Having 19 players on injured reserve is an appalling number. What if I told you, however, that before they played one snap in the 2017 season, the Bears are already about halfway to their 2016 number?
The Bears have nine players on injured reserve already. Yes, that number is correct. Nine players on injured reserve. As they filled out their final roster for the season opener against the Atlanta Falcons, they placed defensive back Deiondre’ Hall on injured reserve. He joined Cameron Meredith, Eric Kush, Lamarr Houston, Ka’Deem Carey, Jordan Morgan, Patrick Scales, Chris Prosinski and Rueben Randle. Hall is a returning member of the injured reserve club. He hit the list last season with a severe ankle sprain.
All these players falling on injured reserve is alarming. I don’t know if it’s bad conditioning or what, but something needs to change in the medical department. Yes, I know football is a rough sport, but how many other teams have 28 players fall on the dreaded injury list?
CBS Chicago senior columnist Dan Bernstein summed up the fans’ sentiment recently:
"The Bears went through all of their passers last year, a campaign that set glorious NFL records for total man/games lost to injury, the most since such records have been kept since the turn of the century. We nodded along as general manager Ryan Pace and coach John Fox told us about all the time and resources the team has since invested in preventative care, and yet we see the same alarming trends beginning to take shape."
We can say all we want about having talent on the roster to win. What good is having talent if that talent spends more time in the trainer’s room than the film room?
Take, for example, Meredith. His loss put the wide receiver corps in a bad situation. I know the unit wasn’t strong to begin with, but his loss puts it in shambles. He was the Bears best receiver last season. This season, he was to ease some of the pressure from Kevin White (another multiple member of the injured club). Instead of having Meredith help him, the pressure is all on White’s weak legs.
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I hope this is just a blip and the injured reserve list doesn’t grow much more the rest of the way. Seeing it so large at this early stage doesn’t elicit much hope, though. If it doesn’t change, don’t expect many more wins than last season.
Can the Chicago Bears be that unlucky two seasons in a row?