Bears Special Teamer Suffers Significant Injury Ahead of 2024 Season

The Bears finalized their initial 53-man roster this Tuesday, but news broke that unfortunately the longest tenured player on the team will need surgery and was placed on IR. Patrick Scales is scheduled to have minor back surgery on Thursday per Brad Biggs and the Chicago Tribune.

Scales was placed on IR, meaning he will miss the first four games of the season, minimum. The timeline on his return will likely be more clear following surgery. While four games would be the best case scenario, a back injury to a long snapper is more likely going to be in the 6-8 week range.

Scales is the longest tenured Bear on the team and has not missed a game since 2017 where he tore his ACL and missed the entire year. Fans may think losing a long-snapper is not the end of the world and a replacement should be easy, but continuity and reps are the most valuable thing for a special teams trio.

Scott Daly, who is reported to be the likely replacement, is a local guy who played for Downers Grove South in high school and attended Notre Dame after. He was waived by the Lions after playing in 42 games. Waiver claims are being processed on Thursday so we will see if Daly is picked up by the Bears.

For those of you who want to really get into the weeds on long snapper analysis, Scales earned PFF's third-highest long snapping grade in 2023, while Daly ranked 24th. Daly has made only 1 tackle in 42 career games, while Scales has made 8 tackles over the last three seasons (though he has only 14 in 122 career games).

The Bears are scheduled for a 2pm practice Thursday in full pads so will be interesting to keep an eye on who is handling the long snapping.