Kyle Long: It’s Time to Shut Him Down for the Season
Kyle Long has been battling through an arm injury, yet the Chicago Bears are off to a 1-6 start. It’s time to shut the Pro Bowl guard down to get ready for 2017.
There is no doubt that right guard Kyle Long is one of the Chicago Bears few building blocks of the future. That’s why the Bears signed him to a $40 million contract extension a week before the season started with two years left on his rookie contract, from the Bears press release:
"“Kyle is extremely talented, a great teammate and more than deserving of this contract,” General Manager Ryan Pace said. “He is a big piece of the foundation we are building and we only expect him to continue to get better. We are excited to announce this long-term commitment to Kyle.”"
Long has been nursing a shoulder injury, some speculate it could be a torn labrum, since training camp. In fact, Long himself was asked about whether his injury might have accelerated the extension, he said:
"“I don’t think so. I think there’s been talks of getting it done for a while, and I think it’ll end up helping our team in the long run with the fact that we got it done at this point in time. But like I said, credit Joey and Ryan and my agent, they did a great job. They got it done and we can worry about Houston now.”"
Fast forward about eight weeks and Long’s arm might be hanging on by a thread. He left the Bears’ latest defeat after 20 offensive snaps with an arm injury. No one has confirmed that it’s the labrum or another injury, but Long summed up the extent of his injury as “My arm’s f—ed up,” Long said. “Tough spot to be in.”
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If the Bears were 3-4 and possibly chasing a Wild Card spot, I’d hope to see Long continue to try to tough it out, but at 1-6 and a date with the first-place Minnesota Vikings on the horizon, what’s the point of trotting him out there?
Let’s learn a lesson from another valuable commodity, Pernell McPhee. McPhee, a top free agent target from 2015, played through a knee injury throughout last season, even when the Bears had little to gain by playing him. He started the season on the PUP list and just made his first appearance, on a limited snap count, last week. The Bears lost six weeks of productivity from him. I don’t think they can afford to miss Long next season when the games are hopefully more meaningful.
The downside of shelving Long is what it does to the rest of the Bears offensive development. They’re already a little thin on the interior of their offensive line. Fellow guard Josh Sitton was in a walking boot for last Thursday’s game. The pressed Ted Larsen and Eric Kush into action. Don’t forget the presumed starting center Hroniss Grassu suffered a torn ACL in training camp and that forced rookie Cody Whitehair to step into the starting center role.
I don’t like the long-term survival for either Matt Barkley or a returning Jay Cutler if both Long and Sitton are injured and sitting out, especially against that ferocious Vikings defense. The development of the running game and either Jordan Howard, Ka’Deem Carey or eventually Jeremy Langford to pile up the yardage without the top two guards.
But this move isn’t about 2016 and another lost season. This is a move about 2017 and beyond when you’ve got presumably your quarterback of the future and are setting up to make a playoff push.
Take a seat Kyle and as always…