Former Bears offensive lineman Kyle Long is coming out of retirement

Former Bears offensive lineman Kyle Long is coming out of retirement. According to a report from Macon Gunter, who cohosts a podcast with Long’s brother Chris Long, Kyle Long has signed with an agent and is looking to return to the NFL.

Kyle Long, 32, played his entire NFL career with the Bears from 2013 to 2019. Long spent the 2020 season as a TV analyst for CBS. The Bears drafted him 20th overall in 2013. They haven’t drafted an offensive lineman in the first round since.

Kyle and Chris Long later confirmed the report on Twitter. Kyle Long also thanked Bears fans for their support. Long, who has vented about the Bears on social media in the past, wrote that Bears fans “have treated me as family for years.”

Long spent much of his final four seasons with the Bears injured. A hip injury ended his 2019 season after four games. He stepped away from football in January 2020. He now is a free agent.

Long blasted the Bears in a series of Twitter posts last summer, writing, “I didn’t ‘retire’ I got fired.”

In the same tweet from June, the oft-injured Long wrote, “I miss football but at what cost.”

The same day, Long wrote that he had no interest in playing for head coach Matt Nagy’s staff.

“I have supported this staff and the roster in the media since being released,” Long wrote. “Believe in the team and the coaches. But that doesn’t mean I would want to play for them.”

That was, however, a long time ago. Whether he still feels the same way remains to be seen. It seems like a safe bet that he’ll probably wind up playing somewhere else.