Chicago Bears kicker Cairo Santos has slammed the league and his own team for the state of the field during their recent preseason game.
Preseason is a time for everyone thatâs involved in an NFL team to fine-tune everything that they need in order to get ready for the new season. Whether it be a quarterback who is getting used to a new offense, or a head coach that has to implement their schemes, there is a lot of work that needs to be done so that the team can hit the ground running.
And being prepared is something that goes on throughout the organisation and isnât necessarily restricted to the playing staff. Concession workers need to get used to the speed of things, equipment staff need to make sure that the players have everything the way they like it so that they can be comfortable on the field, and the field itself needs to be ready for the months of heavy work itâs going to go through.
Although it appears as though the grounds crew for the Chicago Bears didnât get the message as the Soldier Field turf was far from acceptable for their game this weekend just gone.
Turf having a tough time
The Bears played host to the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday in their first game of the preseason, and whilst they were able to topple Patrick Mahomes and crew, that wasnât the biggest talking coming out of the encounter.
The field at Soldier Field was in a very bad state for the game, with a lot of the blame seemingly being put on the Elton John concert that took place back on the 5th of August:
There was more than a week between the concert and the game, so you figure there must have been enough time for the crew to get the game to a manageable condition, but clearly not, and the backlash from it has been rather fierce.
The players fire back
Speaking to the Chicago Sun-Times, Santos was far from happy when it came to talking about the condition that the field was in for their game:
ââI think itâs reckless that we have a product of the league out there, big-time players on both teams out there, and itâs too bad if the field becomes an issue where thereâs an injury and that star of the league is out for the season. And that can happen. Itâs a reckless thing that theyâre not taking care of it to the standards [of the players].ââ
This message could easily be seen as something of a warning to the team that they need to get the situation under control, but there are a number of events going on between now and when the Bears next play at home when they take on the San Francisco 49ers in Week 1 on the 11th of September, so the grounds crew may have to work double time to get it into an acceptable state.
And if they donât, then you imagine that the complaints might get louder and louder from the players afterward.