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For Chicago Bears DE Shemar Turner, long ACL rehab was ‘like walking through a dark tunnel’
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- For Chicago Bears DE Shemar Turner, long ACL rehab was ‘like walking through a dark tunnel’
When the Chicago Bears face the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, it will mark 11 months and 23 days since defensive end Shemar Turner played in a regular-season game.
Turner tore his ACL during an Oct. 26 road game against the Baltimore Ravens last year and missed the remainder of his rookie season.
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The 2025 second-round draft pick started this season on the reserve/physically unable to perform list but was activated Tuesday.
Now it's likely Turner will play his first game in nearly a year in Week 6 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
"Definitely exciting, definitely nerve-building," he said Thursday at Halas Hall. "Definitely more exciting than nerves. Coming from not playing, this is going to be a testament to everything I've been through these last few months."
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The timing of Turner's injury robbed him at a critical stage of his development.
Bears coaches were figuring how to flex him between end and tackle and which situations were the best fit. But the knee injury not only stopped all of that, it stopped him from feeling like a football player.
"It's definitely like walking through a dark tunnel," Turner said of the rehab process. "I'm starting to come out on the lighter side of it. But I mean, it's ups and downs.
"I feel like everybody that had an ACL can (attest) to it or a big injury can (attest) to it. It's going to take you to a dark place. But (whether) you can come out of that dark place or not (will determine) how it's going to go for you."
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Rehab can feel isolating, but Turner said teammates and coaches kept him in good spirits.
"It was a moment in time where I was kind of ducked off to myself, and they were like, 'Nah, bro, don't do that.' They brung me around, everybody circled around me, picked me up.
"(Quarterback) Caleb (Williams) … came over here and sat side by side with me and chopped it up with me, like, 'Man, you're part of this team. We love you, bro.' … We want to see you be successful. So having guys like that in this locker room and then your coaches, too, to support you like that, especially when you haven't established yourself and played that much, it feels good."
Turner, a Texas A&M product, has appeared in five games and posted six tackles, two for a loss.
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Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said that for a player who hasn't played much football outside of practice, "Just having a plan for the number of snaps that he would play in the game, I think that's the biggest thing."
He likened Turner's usage to that of linebacker Noah Sewell, who was activated off the PUP list Saturday after recovering from a torn Achilles. Sewell played 22 snaps against the Green Bay Packers in Week 5.
Circumstances are different in Turner's case, however.
On the same day Turner was activated, the NFL suspended top edge rusher Montez Sweat for violating the league's performance-enhancing substances policy.
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And lineman Dayo Odeyingbo left Sunday's game in Green Bay with a quadriceps injury. He has been listed as a nonparticipant in both practice reports this week.
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Defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett said the defensive end spot will be by committee. Turner's ability to play inside and outside affords the Bears flexibility.
"He had some explosive power (last season), and really that role as, what we call kind of the 'bigger end,' a guy on first and second down that is able to play a 6i (technique, inside the shoulder of the tight end), play a 4i (technique, inside the shoulder of the offensive tackle), as we manipulate the fronts, and then to be able to rush inside (from defensive tackle) on third down," Garrett said. "So that kind of fit what he's shown, the explosive power in his hips, the quickness off the ball, being able to do that. So that's what we like about it."
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Turner said of playing defensive end: "That's like home for me. It's second nature to me."
And he said the pressure of stepping up in the absence of Sweat and Odeyingbo will push him to be better.
"It's definitely an opportunity, a big opportunity that I have right now to go out there and show what I can do," he said. "Especially with guys down right now, they do need me.
"So it's up to me to go out there and to prove to my coaches and everybody on this staff that I am a guy and I can go."
