Kyle Long returned to the NFL this offseason after taking a year off. Sadly he didn’t take long before getting injured again. It makes one think back to happier times. Back in the early 2010s when the mammoth guard first got to the NFL. He was young, athletic, powerful, and a barely contained ball of fury on the field. It was why he endeared himself to Chicago Bears fans so fast.
That rookie season was memorable for so many reasons. Not only because Long immediately went to the Pro Bowl but also for the way he changed the mentality of the offensive line. The days of being pushed around were over in his eyes. That is why he was more than willing to throw down with anybody who tried to cross him. Such a moment finally arrived during a road trip to St. Louis.
It was a big week for Kyle.
He was facing a Rams team that employed his older brother Chris Long. Lots of friends and family would be at the stadium. He wanted to play well. So one can imagine he wasn’t in the mood to be trash-talked. Especially when the Bears fell behind 21-7 early in the game. Inevitably one of the Rams defenders chirped at him a bit too much and Long snapped, starting a brawl that his brother literally had to sprint onto the field to pull him out of.
As it turns out, there is way more to this story than we thought. Chris appeared on the Tom Talks show with famous comedian Tom Segura. The conversation soon brought up his younger brother and the fact they’d played in games together before. Segura immediately mentioned the fight. It turns out the teammate Chris pulled Kyle off of was his best friend on the team. A defensive lineman named Williams Hayes.
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This is where things get so much better.
Kyle Long didn’t seem to care Hayes believes in mermaids
People like that can get their butts whipped all the same. Chris’s intervention probably prevented things from getting way worse. Remember Hayes was giving up three inches and 67 lbs to Long at that time. He clearly wasn’t going to last much longer. Lucky for him he ended up getting the last laugh. St. Louis went on to win that game 42-21. A loss that turned out to be rather pivotal for the Bears down that final stretch.
Don’t feel too bad for Kyle Long though. He got some revenge not too long after that. Two years later in 2015, the Bears returned to St. Louis. There they pummelled the Rams 37-13 in a blowout. The offense rushed for over 120 yards and Jay Cutler threw for three touchdowns. One can imagine he didn’t hesitate to let Hayes and his big brother hear all about it during the game.
So things worked out.
The only thing missing from this story now is microphones picking up what in the world Hayes was saying to him that lit off the fight in the first place. Sadly we’ll never know. These new details though make it a far more entertaining story regardless.