It was a seemingly routine play. Early in the fourth quarter Sunday at Soldier Field, Bears receiver Kevin White ran a simple slant, finding himself wide open in the middle of the field. Quarterback Mike Glennon didn’t see it initially, his progressions taking him first to the left where Dion Sims and Tarik Cohen were in pattern. White sat down in open space and when Glennon was pressured and finally scanned right, it was an easy completion. Near the line of scrimmage, White tried to break free. He took a shot from cornerback Brian Poole, then was smothered from behind by defensive end Takk McKinley. When he rose from the pileup, White motioned to the sidelines. He came off the field. He went to the medical tent on the sideline. Soon after he walked, favoring his left arm, toward the tunnel in the northwest corner of the stadium. Symbolically, he disappeared. The Bears could have used his help, down 10 at the time in a bid to upset the defending NFC champs. Alas, again, White wasn’t healthy enough to stick around. X-rays later revealed a broken left shoulder blade. The tornado of thoughts running through White’s head had to be heavy and dark. Really? This is happening? Again? Somewhere, in the upper reaches of Soldier Field, general manager Ryan Pace had to be feeling sick. Or paralyzed. Or downright empty. He had to be asking the same old question. How did we wind up here? Again? White, the Bears sensed two-and-a-half years ago, was positioned to become a star in Chicago. He was a freakish athlete with impressive drive. He could become a stick of dynamite in the Bears’ offense. He would help accelerate the franchise’s return to relevance. That was the thinking then, with a world of possibility opening up for the No. 7 overall pick in the 2015 draft. Photos from the Bears-Falcons Week 1 game at Soldier Field on Sept. 10, 2017. Instead? Here we are again, dissecting the 25-year-old receiver’s latest career derailment. For the third consecutive season, he has suffered a significant injury. His career catch total is stuck at 21. His games missed count, meanwhile, will reach 29 Sunday. It will climb to 35 at the minimum this year and perhaps up to 44. It’s the continuation of a cruel and empty odyssey. 2015 February 16 NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock: “My No. 1 wide receiver is Kevin White from West Virginia. I think I know what Amari Cooper is, what a great football player he is. But I have Kevin White above him because I think he's got a higher ceiling. I think his potential is greater. He's 6 feet, 3 inches (tall), 219 pounds. Now I want to know what he runs.” February 19 White, at the combine: “A lot of teams and a lot of people don't think I have the top-end speed. I don't know why they think that. But it's important to run fast just to show that I do have that type of speed.” February 21 Deion Sanders, narrating footage of White’s combine workout for AOL’s “Journey to the Draft”: “Kevin is currently projected to be the 17th pick and widely considered the third best receiver in the draft. A 4.5 (second 40 time) is expected. Anything faster and his name will shoot up the rankings.” Kevin White Sr., watching his son run his 40-yard dash at the combine: “Let’s go baby. Let’s go baby. Separate the men from the boys. Let’s go. … Let’s do it! Let’s do it! Get ‘em up! Get ‘em up! Get ‘em up!” Sanders, after White completes his 40 in 4.35 seconds: “Kevin White just ran one of the fastest times at the combine. He also may have just ran himself into being a top 10 pick.” April 30 Pace, on the first night of the NFL draft after selecting White No. 7 overall: “I spoke about getting impact players in the draft, especially when you’re picking in the top 10. And that’s exactly what Kevin White is. We couldn’t be more thrilled right now. This guy’s dynamic, he’s big, he’s strong, he’s ultra-competitive. If I could stress one word for him, he’s competitive. You see it after the catch. You see it in the way he attacks the ball in the air. This is a dynamic playmaker for our offense.” White, after being selected: “There are always going to be critics and doubters. I just love for someone to say I can’t do something and then I do it. It puts a smile on my face. Pace, detailing White’s competitive nature: “It jumps off in the way he runs routes. He’s a physical route runner. He’ll go attack the ball. Some people wait for the ball. He’ll go attack the ball in a crowd. With his release, guys come up and try to jam him. He’s strong, so he’ll try to rip through the release. And then really after the catch he’s elusive, but he’s also strong. So he’s shrugging off tackles. You see competitiveness in the red zone. And then this guy’s competitive also as a blocker. You’ll see him drive guys out of bounds. A lot of receivers don’t do that. This is a competitive, feisty, strong player.” May 8 Offensive coordinator Adam Gase, on his first impressions: “He was predominantly on the right side in their offense (at West Virginia). So moving him around a little bit is going to be different for him. But I don't think intelligence-wise we have any concerns with him. We brought him in for his interview and he was outstanding. He picked up what we taught him very quickly and was able to bring it back to us. … We really like what he brought to the table.” July 30 Quarterback Jay Cutler, discussing White’s learning curve as the Bears report to training camp: “He’s getting it. He’s picking up the offense. First and foremost, you’ve got to learn formations and then kind of build from there. He’s eager. He wants to do it, which is the most important part. So he’ll be fine. … (You’re impressed with) his physical attributes. You see that right away in the way he runs and catches. He can be a dominant force out there.”

Pace, during his opening address at training camp: “Kevin White and David Fales will start on PUP. Kevin has a shin injury that we told him to stay off of the past month. So for us it’s more, hey, he’s been inactive and we want to kind of have a ramp-up phase in regards to his cardio (endurance). So we’re going to start him off on PUP.” August 3 Coach John Fox on White’s off-to-the-side work at camp: “We're just not doing a lot with him as far as strong on-grass movement. I'm not going to get into all of the things (he’s doing) but some of it is in water. There are a lot ways to build your cardio system without pounding on a particular body part. So we're in that stage and hopefully it continues to grow. … Again, I'm looking at this as day to day. I can't predict it. Sooner rather than later is what I hope. But it's just a hope.” August 5 Fox, responding to a previous assertion he made that White had shin splints but not a stress fracture: “You can call it splints, call it whatever you want. You see him out here. It's not like we're covering up some awful injury where he's in a cast, a boot and crutches. We've got a plan for him.” August 11 Receivers coach Mike Groh, assessing White’s work behind the scenes: “He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do and more. He’s certainly made sacrifices in his personal time to get out in front of the playbook and understand everything that we’re trying to do and everything that we’re installing. So I’m very proud of him for what he’s done off the field. And then when we get him on the field, we’ll see what he can do physically.” August 14 White, at a public appearance downtown, on whether he was dealing with a stress fracture in his left leg: “Nah, nah, nah. It’s not a stress fracture. I was just told that it was something with the shin, like Coach Fox said. They’re calling it just a shin. I’ve got to keep icing it and just lay off of it. I went from the (college) season to the combine, from the combine to pro day, from pro day into (rookie mini-camp). … I always want to train, so they just wanted to give my body a rest mentally and physically. ‘Just calm down, Kevin.’ That’s what I’m doing. I can’t wait to get back out there. I’ll be all right. … The game plan for me is to play as soon as possible.” August 15 Pace, offering an update on White’s condition: “As you guys know, it's been a shin injury as we've discussed. Specifically Kevin suffered a small stress fracture to the lower part of his shin in the later part of OTAs. A lot of times these stress fractures heal on their own. So that was our plan and that was our hope going forward. Which is why we had him stay off it for the summer months. So when Kevin returned to start training camp, he was symptom free. He felt good; no soreness. We’re thinking, ‘OK good, he's ready to go.’ So we proceed forward with ramping up his strength and conditioning. Everything's going as planned. Then late last week as we were beginning to get further into the running portion, Kevin suffers a setback. So at this point in time, for his long-term future, the best course of action is going to be to perform surgery to stabilize the stress fracture.” White, reacting to the decision to have surgery on his left shin: “Probably the most difficult thing I’ve had to do in a little while. Kind of just throwing in the towel kind of thing. I just have to be honest (about my pain with this). Because if not, then I’ll hurt myself. … It's the sport. It's not going to be all sunshine every day so you've got to roll with the punches.” Pace: “I want to state that right now, our whole focus is his long-term health. I know he's going to be a great player for the Chicago Bears. I want to make sure that we protect him. … I know this is going to be a blip on the radar as he has a long, successful career. One thing I want to say about Kevin is, he's disappointed right now, he's dying to get out there. I think you find out a lot about people in adverse situations. And going through this process with him — and I mean this from the bottom of my heart — his character, his resolve, his dedication, the type of man that he is has just been confirmed to me through this process. I'm so glad he's here. I know he's going to be a great player for us.” October 27 White, on his recovery progress: “I’m not closing any doors. I’m not saying that I’m not coming back this year. There’s a chance. So I’ll do my best to try to make the comeback. … Compared to when I was 100 percent healthy? I’ve got a ways to go. I’ve got a ways to go. I’m not doing a lot (right now).” November 24 White on his return to practice, as the Bears assessed whether to take him off PUP and move him to the active roster: "It's good to be back. Just progressing and take it day by day. … A little discomfort here and there (from the rod and screw in my leg.) But it's not excruciating pain like how it used to be." December 3 Cutler on White’s return to practice: “I think it was big not only for him but for us just to see what he can do. A little breath of fresh air. He’s got some burst to him. You can see the talent is definitely there. He just has to start trusting his leg and get in better football shape and learn the offense better.” December 10 Excerpt from Chicago Tribune news story: Bears rookie Kevin White will not play this season, the Tribune has learned. White’s recovery from August surgery to repair a stress fracture in his left leg has progressed as the team had hoped, if not better. The young receiver has made marked improvement with his movement, shown signs of burst as his running has increased and worked through bouts of weakness in his left leg to gain more confidence in his acceleration and agility. But the Bears have no plan to clear White for action this season, despite growing outside curiosity as to whether his NFL debut could occur in the next four weeks. December 11 Fox, addressing the Tribune’s report on White: “There are always a lot of reports. Then there’s facts.” December 16

Fox, commenting on the official decision to shut White down for the year: “He’d been away from football a long time, other than a few reps in rookie mini-camp and some of the offseason. He really hadn’t played football since West Virginia. So we just deemed it best to take him out these last three games and get him ready for next year. … Let me just make this clear: Kevin’s done everything in his power to play for us this year. Unfortunately he had an injury. He’s worked very hard in the rehab process. He’s been a guy that’s been very, very consistent in all those things you have to do, whether it’s what time treatment is, how long treatment is. He’s worked very, very hard. He’s done everything in his power to get healthy and try to play football this year. It just didn’t work out.” January 4 Pace, assessing the 2016 expectations for White: “I’m always careful about putting expectations on guys. But the thing good thing about Kevin is he’s really intelligent, he’s a really hard worker and we treated him really like Player 54 this year. Traveling with us, being in the meetings, going through that practice period while on PUP. That was beneficial. So he’s gained a lot of confidence. I think he’s going to hit things full speed. I’m really excited to kind of unleash Kevin and let everybody see his progress.” The Tribune's Bears writers make their game-by-game predictions for the 2017 season. (Brad Biggs, Rich Campbell, Dan Wiederer, David Haugh) (Brad Biggs, Rich Campbell, Dan Wiederer, David Haugh) 2016 April 16 Excerpt from Chicago Tribune feature: Despite White's prolonged confinement to the Halas Hall training room, Bears fans on the street occasionally recognize his long dreadlocks and toothy grin. They will stop him to say they're sorry about his injury or they can't wait to see him play. Some take it a step further. We're counting on you. "It doesn't faze me," White said recently over lunch at the Cheesecake Factory in Lincolnshire. "I'm counting on myself." May 16 New receivers coach Curtis Johnson: “Kevin White was one of the better receivers I’ve seen coming out (of college). He reminded me of some of the guys I had at Miami. He reminded me of Andre Johnson. Very similar to him. Hands similar to Reggie Wayne. Kevin’s one of those guys that when you looked at the draft and you watched television, you said this guy’s going to be a bona fide player. … The one thing is you get a little rusty. It’s just being healthy. That’s the number one thing. And then he’s eager to do everything. I think sometimes I have to slow him down. … I think the sky is the limit. He’s an unbelievable kid. You know that every day he comes to work he’s going to give you everything he has. His demeanor on or off the field doesn’t change. Physically he can do anything he wants. He’s fast, he’s strong, he’s got good hips. He can get out of breaks. It’s just a matter of him mentally getting there so that he can use all of his ability instead of thinking so much.” August 27 Cutler, after an unpolished White route resulted in an incompletion instead of a long gain during a preseason game with the Chiefs: "There are going to be growing pains. That's just kind of how it is. He missed his rookie year (after) not playing a ton of college football, and then (we’re) throwing him out there. There's going to be some growing pains with that. That's just how it is. We're working with him and he's doing everything he possibly can to work through it and be where he's supposed to be and he understood it. I talked to him on the sideline and just told him 'This is going to happen. And now you know and now it can't happen again. We can't have repeat mistakes.'. He's a good kid. He's going to do well." September 11 Cutler, after an errant White route resulted in an interception in the season opening loss to the Texans: "I'll talk to Kev about it. First game out there. It left my hand. It's my responsibility." White, responding to the flustered reaction Cutler had after the receiver’s error: "It's the way he is. You can't change a person. It doesn't bother me at all. It's football, a lot of emotion. I want to be perfect, Jay wants to be perfect. When it doesn't get executed the way it should, there's a lot of frustration. … It's normal. We all care. I think it should be like that rather than nonchalant." September 12 Fox, on Cutler’s reaction to White’s mistake: “I can’t expect people not to show emotion. I don’t think any of that’s intentional. They’re just all competitors. They want good things to happen and when bad things happen, there’s probably an element of frustration with a lot of people. I’m kind of glad you didn’t see my reaction after that play.” September 13 Excerpt from “Real Talk” in the Tribune: The book on White out of college was straightforward: superb combination of size, speed and strength but an obvious lack of polish as a route runner. The latter doesn’t change overnight. So to see White’s stumbles Sunday in Houston was hardly a shocker. But with the stakes now elevated, those errors – like the miscommunication on the pick – will open up important questions. Just how long will Cutler remain tolerant of White’s slipups? Will the quarterback’s trust in his young playmaker eventually plummet? And how mentally resilient will White be in retaining his own confidence through the growing pains? September 14 Fox, on coaching White through his mistakes: “That video is a great teaching tool. You’re taking guys who were on the field where people are slapping them upside the head. And they’re tired. And they’re sore. It slows down (in film review). It’s air-conditioned. They get to watch themselves perform. I think it kind of slows things down and hopefully they learn. This league’s not about not making mistakes because you make mistakes. You’re not ever 100 percent. But not making the same ones is key.” Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains: “Kev is his worst critic. He's hard on himself. He is a pleaser. He wants to play well for Jay. He wants to help alleviate some stress off Eddie (Royal) and Alshon (Jeffery) and Zach (Miller), and he wants to make sure he's (handling) his role. That's why we love the kid, that's why he's going to be a good player. He cares so much and he wants to be good.”