New Bears regime needs to earn back trust after misleading on Kevin White
By Eric Edholm18 hours agoShutdown Corner
I thought my friend Laurence Holmes nailed it following the news that No. 7 overall pick, Chicago Bears wide receiver Kevin White, could miss the entire season.
Holmes, writing for 670TheScore.com, laid out what was suspected for weeks but became clear over the weekend: The Bears were sandbagging us the whole time on White's injury, making it seem less serious than it really was.
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White suffered a shin injury had was not on the field at the start of training camp. Week 2 of camp arrived, and still no White. I was suspicious of how the team was painting the picture when I visited there. A shin injury? Seven, then eight weeks missed? Something didn't add up.
Then Chicago Tribune's Dan Wiederer pointedly asked White: Do you have a stress fracture? White said no. Ice and rest would do him good. He thought he might play soon.
Nope. A day later the Bears dropped the bomb. Don't tell me they didn't know about the stress facture.
Holmes agrees — he can smell the manure, as anyone else could:
At the beginning of camp, general manager Ryan Pace could’ve made the announcement that White had a stress fracture and they were hoping to avoid surgery. It would’ve been case closed until the update that we got on Saturday, but that’s not how the Bears played it. With each interview, Fox was less and less believable because he was more and more ambiguous. Plus, there was the proof of White not doing anything during practice.
The Bears have a new head coach in John Fox who has been doing this — giving no specifics on injuries and, well, yeah, coaching — for years. Pace is new to this GM-ing thing. Somewhere there was a disconnect perhaps, but more concerningly there appeared to be a concerted effort by the Bears to deceive.
During the season, I get it: You don't want to give opponents a competitive advantage for games on injuries. But early in training camp, what's to be gained? Here are fans — some of whom were pining for that seventh pick to be used on defensive help — thinking they are getting a top playmaker added to the lineup. Then they had the rug pulled from underneath them.
It's a disservice to the fans, and it's a disservice to White, who suddenly looks flaky and has gotten off to a bad start with his new team. If it was announced earlier what I suspect the Bears have long known, that this shin thing was more serious than garden-variety shin splints, well then, what can you do? Injuries happen, and level-headed folks understand that.
The Bears gained nothing with the approach they took. The NFL's media policy on injuries being what they are, I get why Fox would not change the way he announces things after this long in the league. But don't lead people to believe that a few more sessions in the training room and White would be back. That's called a lie.
After one of the most forgettable seasons in franchise memory, the Bears were not about to invoke memories of the 1985 team. There's just too much to correct. But optimism was at least mildly on the uptick with a new staff, some solid offseason additions and a few addition-by-subtraction deletions, too. That momentum now is gone, and with it comes a lack of trust with this new regime.
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him atedholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
By Eric Edholm18 hours agoShutdown Corner
I thought my friend Laurence Holmes nailed it following the news that No. 7 overall pick, Chicago Bears wide receiver Kevin White, could miss the entire season.
Holmes, writing for 670TheScore.com, laid out what was suspected for weeks but became clear over the weekend: The Bears were sandbagging us the whole time on White's injury, making it seem less serious than it really was.
[Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football: Sign up and join a league today!]
White suffered a shin injury had was not on the field at the start of training camp. Week 2 of camp arrived, and still no White. I was suspicious of how the team was painting the picture when I visited there. A shin injury? Seven, then eight weeks missed? Something didn't add up.
Then Chicago Tribune's Dan Wiederer pointedly asked White: Do you have a stress fracture? White said no. Ice and rest would do him good. He thought he might play soon.
Nope. A day later the Bears dropped the bomb. Don't tell me they didn't know about the stress facture.
Holmes agrees — he can smell the manure, as anyone else could:
At the beginning of camp, general manager Ryan Pace could’ve made the announcement that White had a stress fracture and they were hoping to avoid surgery. It would’ve been case closed until the update that we got on Saturday, but that’s not how the Bears played it. With each interview, Fox was less and less believable because he was more and more ambiguous. Plus, there was the proof of White not doing anything during practice.
The Bears have a new head coach in John Fox who has been doing this — giving no specifics on injuries and, well, yeah, coaching — for years. Pace is new to this GM-ing thing. Somewhere there was a disconnect perhaps, but more concerningly there appeared to be a concerted effort by the Bears to deceive.
During the season, I get it: You don't want to give opponents a competitive advantage for games on injuries. But early in training camp, what's to be gained? Here are fans — some of whom were pining for that seventh pick to be used on defensive help — thinking they are getting a top playmaker added to the lineup. Then they had the rug pulled from underneath them.
It's a disservice to the fans, and it's a disservice to White, who suddenly looks flaky and has gotten off to a bad start with his new team. If it was announced earlier what I suspect the Bears have long known, that this shin thing was more serious than garden-variety shin splints, well then, what can you do? Injuries happen, and level-headed folks understand that.
The Bears gained nothing with the approach they took. The NFL's media policy on injuries being what they are, I get why Fox would not change the way he announces things after this long in the league. But don't lead people to believe that a few more sessions in the training room and White would be back. That's called a lie.
After one of the most forgettable seasons in franchise memory, the Bears were not about to invoke memories of the 1985 team. There's just too much to correct. But optimism was at least mildly on the uptick with a new staff, some solid offseason additions and a few addition-by-subtraction deletions, too. That momentum now is gone, and with it comes a lack of trust with this new regime.
- - - - - - -
Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him atedholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
