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The Bears drafted Long in the first round in 2013, and he was a face of the franchise for seven seasons.

AP Photos

Kyle Long at peace with Bears, retirement as he roars into life after football

Exits are rarely smooth, and things got messy between Long and the organization last fall. But his loyalty to the Bears remains unshaken.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Kyle Long loves to craft analogies, and he visualizes the end of his football career as an oncoming train.

He heard it rumbling down the tracks when he suffered a season-ending ankle injury in 2016 and knew he’d never be the same player. He ignored it but sees now that it unmistakably signaled the end. The next two seasons ended on injured reserve as well, and the train’s whistle got louder.

Long thought he could hold it off after arriving in Bourbonnais feeling rejuvenated, but that was fleeting. He injured his hip two weeks into the season, and the locomotive’s lights were in his eyes. It was inevitable, no matter how hard he had fought it, he couldn’t bend the tracks. It was time to retire.

“It’s the easiest decision I’ve ever made,” Long told the Sun-Times. “The film doesn’t look right. My body doesn’t feel right. And there comes a certain point where what you love becomes work.

“I would say 85 percent of the work wasn’t even football. It was in the doctor’s office or rehabbing. I’m trying to plug holes in a dam with my fingers, and there’s not enough fingers on my body to put into this wall. And that’s OK. That’s the natural curve of the life of a football player. If I’m OK with that and I can move forward — I have — and find new hobbies, watch out, world.”

Long, 31, is done after seven seasons as an offensive guard and tackle. He reserves the right to reconsider but sounds fully content. He would play only for the Bears, but they don’t have a spot for him. This choice was thoroughly thought out with counsel from his Hall of Fame father, Howie, and recently retired brother Chris.

Long was the Bears’ first-round draft pick in 2013 and made three consecutive Pro Bowls before the 2016 injury. He survived coaching changes from Marc Trestman to John Fox to Matt Nagy, as well as turnover at general manager with the hiring of Ryan Pace.

The Bears didn’t win much, but Long got what he wanted out of his career.

“I have no regrets,” he said. “I’ve done things on the football field that not a lot of people can say they’ve done. I’ve made some incredible friendships, met some very cool people. I’ve been privy to some amazing situations and just cool things. There’s things you get to be a part of that most people don’t get.”

In typical Long style, he laced a lengthy conversation with unbridled emotion, unfiltered honesty and unrelenting humor.

He said he’s down to 280 pounds after playing at a listed weight of 330 and told Nagy he wants a tryout at tight end. He described his post-football peace by saying, “Oh, dude, my chi is centered as [expletive].” He likened his breakup with the Bears to “a really smart girlfriend” ending the relationship when he couldn’t.

That last part is compelling. From the outside, it looked like an ugly split with a franchise mainstay. The Bears forced him to IR despite him playing every snap leading up to it, then appeared to exile him.

“It was clear to me that they didn’t want me in the building,” Long said. “So I got my ass out of the building and I never came back.”

His best guess was “maybe personality stuff,” but Long had a good reputation in the locker room. He thought the Bears might view him as a distraction or a malcontent. He insists he wouldn’t have caused any issues, but “I can take a hint.”

He also believes the Bears tried to trade him.

“When they found out they couldn’t trade me because I had no value, they put me on IR,” Long said. “That’s probably what happened.”

But for all that, he still loves them. He expressed no bitterness toward anyone in the organization and said he didn’t take it personally. The ending was awkward, but overall it was a good run. Long was a very good player for the Bears, and they paid him an estimated $37 million.

Loyalty matters deeply to him as well, and he doesn’t blame the team for moving on. And after bristling at first, he admitted the Bears were prudent to shelve him.

“They’ve done me right, and I’ve done them right,” Long said. “I’m a three-time Pro Bowler. Never threw my teammates under the bus. Always took blame. Played hurt. I did what I was supposed to [expletive] do. And they did right by me.

“When I told my older brother about this, I said, ‘You know, it’s so [messed] up. I played every snap and they put me on IR.’ He’s like, ‘Kyle, are you healthy?’ And I was like, ‘No.’

“But it gives you an appreciation. Chris had injuries at the end of his St. Louis tenure, and they cut his ass. Then he went and won two Super Bowls. The Bears did me right, so I’ll never play in another jersey again. Bear for life. Couldn’t be happier about that. If I felt they [wronged] me, I’d go to Germany and get some stem cells and come back ready to kick somebody’s ass.”

Even in that digression, Long wouldn’t cross the ultimate line in his imaginary vengeance.

“I don’t know if I could play for Green Bay,” he said.

As far as what’s next, Long is enthusiastic, but doesn’t know where he’s headed.

Here’s what he does know: His body feels great, his mind is clear and he’s free from everything that bothered him about the all-consuming nature of his former job. That’s especially true when it comes to the physical cost of doing anything to stay on the field.

“That doesn’t vibe right with me anymore,” Long said. “I don’t need to just throw my body in front of a train every week. There’s so much more to life than football.”

He looks forward to exploring interests that he has pushed aside for years. He’s drawn to the idea of doing “normal-guy stuff” like knocking down beers with Chris without worrying about how it’ll affect him on the practice field the next day.

As he pieces together his future, some of the answers come easily. He’d be a natural in media. He also wants to use his creativity and find a field that rewards his over-the-top competitiveness.

And he wants to stay in Chicago. That’s about loyalty, too.

It’s a romanticized idea, but Long loves that the city embraced him as one of its own. The fans did right by him, and he intends to do right by them in retirement. He won’t disappear.

“Chicago has been home, and I will always have a place there,” he said. “I’m as much a part of Chicago as hot beef, bro.

“I love it. It’s a tough town. I never had to pretend to be anything other than what I was. They accepted me. They were like, ‘This is our crazy little brother Kyle, and we love the [expletive] out of him.’ ”

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