The Long Brother Showdown

This Sunday will be more than just a showdown between the Bears and the Rams. This Sunday will be a matchup of two brothers, Rams defensive end Chris Long, and Bears offensive guard Kyle Long.

The famous brother showdown that everybody knows and loves is that of the Manning brothers, which is more commonly known as the Manning Bowl, but here we have the Long brothers who have quite a football background all of their own.

The brothers and sons of Hall of Famer Howie Long are four years apart and will be going head to head for the first time in their careers.  When asked about if he knew that he was playing his brother this weekend Chris responded in classic Chris Long by saying jokingly with pictures of his brother in his locker, “I did not know that”.

Kyle Long is in his rookie season as he was drafted with the 20th pick in the first round by

the Bears, 18 picks later than Chris. Kyle Long is the 43rd ranked guard on pro football focus and has given up two sacks and allowed four quarterback hits this season but has been a major part of a much improved Bears offensive line that has given up the third least amount of sacks in the NFL.

Chris Long meanwhile is now in his sixth season in the league and is ranked as the 22nd best 4-3 defensive end. Long has 6.5 sacks with 4 quarterback hits and 25 quarterback hurries but has not played up to his standards at times this season.

This should be a very interesting matchup between two competitive brothers and one that will only give bragging rights over the other. Both brothers are looking at this as a fun experience as they are both pretty close to each other. If worst comes to worst however and that were to change, Chris could maybe talk to his dad about trading in Kyle for teammate Jake Long.