Chicago Bears injury situation over the past three seasons almost entered the realm of legend. It wasn’t just the fact that several of their players were ending up hurt. It was how many starters were ending up hurt. Losing players in general is bad enough, but losing several guys who were tagged as crucial to helping you win? That’s the worst.
Yet nobody can remember it being as bad as it was during the three years John Fox was head coach between 2015 and 2017. It just felt like guys were dropping like flies. That’s because, according to the data, they were. Football Outsiders tracked the numbers on injured players through their innovative Adjust Games Lost stat.
This counted players who missed games due to injury over the course of a season. Their prominent expert in this field, Scott Kacsmar, compiled the data from the previous three years. His results were ugly, but not at all surprising for Bears fans.
Adjusted games lost to injury, 2015-2017
1. Falcons 97.2
…
32. Bears 366— Scott Kacsmar (@FO_ScottKacsmar) June 14, 2018
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Chicago Bears injury situation stands between team and success
That’s not a type-o. Bears players missed a combined 366 games over three seasons. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Falcons roster missed just 97.2. That’s less than a third of what the Bears suffered. Is it any coincidence they made the playoffs twice and went to a Super Bowl? It’s easier to win in the NFL when you have most of your best players on the field.
Chicago finished 23rd, 32nd, and 31st respectively each of the past three seasons in adjusted games lost with 2016 actually setting records. They finished with a franchise-worst 3-13 record in the Super Bowl era that year. It’s why they completely revamped the training staff the moment Fox was gone. This is one of their biggest priorities to fix. The first step in winning games is keeping the guys on the field who can help do that.
