Kyle Long's Problems Started out with a Groin Tear

Kyle Long didn't get the chance to bow out of Chicago the proper way, doing instead over social media in a somewhat cryptic statement.

So while making the rounds at the Super Bowl this week as a representative for Gillette and Walgreen's, Long has taken advantage of the opportunity to tell his tale. He did it Wednesday on WSCR-AM 670 with Mully and Haugh. His situation involved an injury largely kept under wraps by the team through the season and even by Long after his decision to retire.

"When you're healthy there's nothing better than being in the NFL and when you're not healthy there's not much worse," Long told Mike Mulligan and David Haugh during their morning broadcast.

Long had gone on injured reserve without leaving the Raiders-Bears game due to injury, and hadn't been missing time due to injury. As it turns out, Long had a partial groin tear. The Bears had described it at the time as a back or hip injury.

"I think somewhere along the course of the first few weeks I had a partial tear in my groin, in my hip-flexor area," Long said. "And I did that against the Broncos (Week 2). I thought I just like strained something, so I just kept playing.

"I've had a million things (injuries). I've had a million caution lights in my vehicle and this was not one that threw me off too much, but I should have seen it coming. I've never dealt with something in the groin or hip-flexor and it was debilitating. You know, you can't run, you can't play in this league and if you don't have any propulsion or power through the ground, force though your feet, you're not going to be able to move people. And our job of moving is moving people."

Long said he has dropped weight to around 280 pounds and feels better, and left the team on good terms.

"And that's why you'll never see me wear another jersey," he said in the interview. "Like, I could take a year off, get healthy and get back into football. But I have no intention of ever doing that.

"It's time to live life. It's like I just got out of college and I've got to find out what the heck I've got to do with my life."

A good bet seems to be media and the NFL and maybe even Bears-related because Long has always been a natural at this. Even when he was trying to apologize for taking a helmet off a teammate's head and use it as a weapon during a scrimmage last August in practice, Long sparkled on camera.

He told Mully and Haugh he'll take along one cherished memory in particular about a career which included three Pro Bowls his first three seasons. He made the Pro Bowl playing a new position in 2015 at right tackle before going back to right guard a year later.

"They moved me to offensive tackle, like, Wednesday of Week 1,' " he recalled, pointing out he gave up two sacks and separated three fingers in his right hand in the process.

"I think I gave up a sack in each of the first four weeks and from that point there was only one way and that was to get better," Long said. "Right. So I ended up making the Pro Bowl by the grace of God but I think that the fans had an appreciation for a guy changing positions when a team had a need. A

"And that's kind of my highlight because it really shows the power of the fans in Chicago, the will power of football players and the tremendous coaching that you can get from NFL coaches."

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