Chicago’s coordinators swept up by COVID-19

With the Chicago Bears currently in the throes of a COVID-19 outbreak, its reach has touched just about everyone. The latest? Their coaches.

In a Thursday morning press conference, Matt Nagy said that each of Chicago’s three coordinators on offense, defense, and special teams — Bill Lazor, Sean Desai, and Chris Tabor, respectively — have all contracted COVID-19. All three men have been sidelined and are not in person at Halas Hall until further notice.

The news of the Bears’ three primary coordinators contracting COVID-19 comes on the heels of the team trying to weather a new wave and spread of the disease. Twelve Chicago players in all are now on the reserve/COVID-19 list, including starters Eddie Goldman, Larry Borom, Artie Burns, Allen Robinson, and Eddie Jackson. For more on the recent players to hit their reserve list click here.

The spread of the Omicron variant has leveled much of the world at large, and the Bears are far from only the NFL team seeing hosts of its player go into health protocols in recent days. The same sentiment applies to other active professional sports leagues like the NBA and NHL. Dozens of athletes in each domain have entered COVID-19 protocols since the start of the week. That does include additional staff, of course.

As a result, a few days ago, SB Nation’s Ricky O’Donnell proposed that the NBA and these other leagues enter a temporary pause not only for safety. It would be instituted so, in some cases, games don’t feature teams missing half their players due to these necessary protocols. (If you’re an avid follower of the Chicago Bulls, for example, you already understand the situation.)

At this time, no such wide-ranging proposal seems to be on the table for the NFL, NBA, and NHL, among others. For now, the Bears, and their coordinators and players, like seemingly everyone in this pandemic, will have to weather the storm as best as possible in their individual bubble.