The Chicago Bears brought in a new coaching staff this offseason under Ben Johnson. Almost everything was changed from top to bottom. That is no surprise. It happens often in the NFL. There was a slight exception. Johnson made few changes to the training and strength staff. Andre Tucker, the head athletic trainer, was retained. Pierre Ngo was promoted from assistant strength and conditioning coach to lead strength coach. Those two decisions may have been somewhat ill-advised in retrospect.
Since the start of the season, the Bears have been plagued by injuries. That in itself can be blamed on the strength and training coaches. It’s football. Injuries happen. However, it’s more the type of injuries that raises questions. Six players were declared out for Sunday this week. Three of them (T.J. Edwards, Kyler Gordon, and Jaylon Jones) are out with hamstring injuries. Linebacker D’Marco Jackson is questionable with the same. That doesn’t include running back D’Andre Swift, who is nursing a quad issue.
These are soft tissue injuries. When they occur in abundance, they usually point to a flaw in the team’s physical preparation.
The Chicago Bears have seen this issue before.
In 2004, the team was hammered by injuries. Many of them were of the soft tissue variety. So the next offseason, head coach Lovie Smith fired strength coach Russ Riederer and brought in Rusty Jones from Buffalo. The effect was immediate. Injuries fell across the board. Players stayed on the field, and the team performed at a much higher level, winning the division. If the Chicago Bears want to make any headway moving forward, they must find a way to keep players on the field. That may require Johnson shaking up his strength and training staff with people who can combat the soft tissue problems. Remember, he didn’t hire either guy. He retained one and promoted the other. Going outside the organization might be best.
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