Chicago Bears news: Team changing procedures to cut injuries
After suffering through a rash of injuries in 2016, the Chicago Bears are making changes to cut the number down in 2017.
Last season was a painful one for the Chicago Bears both literally and figuratively. They finished with a 3-13 record. A big part of the reason for that was the rash of injuries they suffered through. They had a total of 19 players assigned to injured reserve. That tied them for second in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers. The San Diego Chargers had the most with 20.
Of course, it’s no surprise that those three teams combined for a total of just 10 wins. You cannot win games when your players are all in the hospital. Every unit on the roster suffered major injuries. At one point, undrafted free agent rookies STARTED GAMES for the Bears. The biggest reason John Fox returned was because analyzing the season was too difficult with so many key players down.
In addition to fielding a winning roster on the field, general manager Ryan Pace also needs to have a program that helps keep that roster healthy.
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"We have made some tweaks and some adjustments,” Pace said. “Without going into specifics, but it could be some scheduling things, some training camp things, things we’re doing in the weight room, things we’re doing in the training room, just dialing things in to adapt and not just put our heads in the sand and say, ‘oh that’s bad luck.’You’re building the team to be at their absolute highest state Week 1, and that’s our goal. I feel good about where we’re at with that right now."
The irony of the season is that the number of soft-tissue injuries actually went down last season. It was the number of more serious injuries like broken bones that were the problem.
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Hopefully, with a better program and more input from the team strength trainers and doctors, the Chicago Bears won’t have to go through another season with more Pro Bowl-caliber players on injured reserve than on the field. It would certainly be great to know how good a team they are. John Fox said they were close, maybe he’s right.