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Will he or won’t he? Former Chicago Bears right guard Kyle Long retired from the game just one year ago after seven seasons with the team. Chicago’s first-round pick in the 2013 draft, (20th overall) Long was one of the better offensive linemen in the game, making three straight Pro Bowls to start his career, before the injury bug bit — hard.
A laundry list of injuries plagued Long the final four years of his career, with Dan Pompei of The Athletic writing an excellent piece on the depth of the former offensive lineman’s ailments, detailing the 16 surgery scars Long picked up along the way. Long never started more than nine games in a season after his third year, dealing with shoulder, neck, back, leg and hip injuries, among others.
When the former o-lineman hung up his cleats a year ago, few were surprised, but since that time, he has flirted with the idea of coming out of retirement more than once, most recently this past weekend.
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Kyle Long on Twitter: ‘Ready to Get Back’
On Sunday, during the divisional round of games, Long took to Twitter and dropped an eyebrow-raising Tweet suggesting he was ready for a potential comeback:
Long’s last game with the Bears was in a loss to the Raiders in London Week 5 of 2019, which is where that reference came from. He tore his adductor in that game, and it wound up being the final one of his career. He retired after the season concluded, but he has hinted multiple times since that he may eventually want to return, noting that he needed a rest after the game took such a toll on his body.
When asked last May if he had filed his retirement papers yet, he responded: “They have those?”
He has also suggested that should he return, it likely wouldn’t be to play for the Bears because the team was ready to part ways with him after the 2019 season anyway. “I didn’t retire I got fired … Full transparency I miss football but at what cost,” he Tweeted last June.
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Here’s Why Kyle Long Likely Won’t Play for the Bears Again
Long has been working as an analyst for CBS Sports since he retired last January, and he has not been shy about sharing his feelings on his former team or their current state of affairs, calling out head coach Matt Nagy multiple times for his handling of quarterback Mitch Trubisky, among other things. Thus, if he should return, it likely won’t be under Nagy, who the Bears just retained for at least another year.
The 32-year-old has stated on multiple occasions that while he loves his former team, if he stages a comeback, it won’t be to play under Chicago’s current regime. He Tweeted the following last June: “I still cheer for the bears…This staff would never take me.”
He also added: “I have supported this staff and the roster … Believe in the team and the coaches. But that doesn’t mean I would want to play for them.”
When fans and analysts began responding to his Tweet about un-retiring, Long demurred a bit, and didn’t address it again other than with these tongue-in-cheek Tweets:
It remains unclear whether Long was serious about coming back, but his intentions will be evident soon enough. Just don’t expect to see him back in a Bears uniform any time soon.
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