The Chicago Bears announced Monday that they were placing starting guard Kyle Long on the injured reserve list. Long has been one of the team’s longest tenured players, and they will certainly miss his veteran presence in the locker room.

Former Chicago Bears wide receiver Earl Bennett, who is very active on social media and often critiques Bears games and players, told a story on Tuesday about Kyle Long’s rookie season in 2013. Bennett and Long played together in Chicago for just that one season in 2013, but according to Bennett, it was a memorable one.

Bennett Calls Long ‘Tough SOB’

Bennett discussed how key Long was for the Bears during his rookie season, and gave credit to Long for his toughness and ability to assist an ailing offensive line:

“After losing a few key guys on the offensive line, we needed a tough SOB like Kyle. In my opinion this was a draft pick that the Trestman era got right. We knew he was tough and once he got comfortable in the offense, he would help anchor the line. But, on his first away game Kyle saw me on the floor of our hotel.

According to Bennett, this encounter at the hotel led to an unexpected conversation: “He approached me with a visibly frustrated look. We locked eyes and he proceeded to ask me a few questions, ‘Earl, my man you headed to eat?,’ was the icebreaker,” Bennett said. Then, the conversation took a bit of a turn:

“Then Kyle asked me if I had ‘a pack man’ in the area. Being from the hood, I knew what a pack was. So I wanted to clarify we were on the same page so I asked ‘weed man?’ Kyle responded yes and I was now confused. No where in the world did I have ‘a pack man.’ I was of little help to the rookie. Not sure if he found a person, but this conversation would always be one of my favorites because of the strange look he gave me when I clarified ‘weed man’ as ‘a pack man.’ That was the last time he asked me, and we laughed about it after the game.

While Long has never come out and admitted to using marijuana, his brother Chris, who recently retired with the Eagles after an 11-year career, has discussed his marijuana use and has been an advocate for marijuana use in the NFL as an alternative to other painkillers. He also denounced the NFL’s current marijuana policy as “arbitrary”:

“You only get tested in a window for it. It’s kind of arbitrary. At the end of the day, I know countless young players who go out after games, get banged up, dehydrated. They’re already trying to recover from a football game. You’re just throwing gas on a fire. You’re probably more likely to get into trouble…[Marijuana’s] just much less dangerous. It’s helped me in my career and my personal life. Also, I just enjoy it. Why isn’t that enough?”

Kyle Long has not responded to Bennett’s story, but that didn’t stop a few fans from having fun with it on Twitter:

I always knew kyle blazed he listens to curren$y lol I love it I love him even more now — James Gargiulo (@jamesvg10) October 15, 2019

I’m sure Kyle and his brother get medicated all the time. Nothing performance enhancing about it to me. — JB (@KamaoleCubs42) October 15, 2019

Of course he does. Big fan of action Bronson!!! Just saying. — cleo mcdowell (@Drewbee31428419) October 15, 2019

Whether Long retires at the end of the season is yet unknown, but he has likely played his last game as a Chicago Bear.