Chicago Bears: What does back surgery mean for Teven Jenkins?

The Chicago Bears were aware of the injury that caused Teven Jenkins back pain

Reports have come out that Teven Jenkins missed his final three games at Oklahoma State due to a lumbar strain. Welp. I reached out to Dr. Jesse Morse who specializes in both Sports and Regenerative Medicine two days ago about the situation. Dr. Morse is known within the fantasy football community and normally focuses only on positional players. However, he responded by stating the following in regards to Teven Jenkins:

"Limited details, this could be simple herniated disc but is likely a combo of spondylysis or spondylolisthesis. Chronic lumbar instability due to weight & constant hyperextension. If compressing on nerve, hard to treat with ‘regular’ ortho. Surgery not ideal."

I will point out that Dr. Morse has not seen any of Teven Jenkins’ medical charts and is only going off of the same information we are — a lumbar strain. Therefore, we cannot take his words as concrete knowledge of what is happening with the rookie offensive tackle. As of now, nothing has been said about a herniated disc like former Bears offensive tackle Chris Williams suffered. However, at this point, we also need to take what we are hearing from Matt Nagy and the Chicago Bears with a grain of salt right now — coach speak happens all offseason, including with injuries.

Here is a great timeline by Jason Lieser at the Chicago Sun-Times regarding Nagy’s comments throughout the offseason on Teven Jenkins’ back issues.