Luther Burden was helped to the medical tent in the fourth quarter of Week 9 after a helmet-to-helmet hit left him shaken up against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He stayed down after the play and was tended to by trainers before being taken off the field.
The injury landed on a night when Burden had been the Chicago Bears' most productive receiver. Before leaving, he had seven catches for 97 yards and a touchdown, including a score in the first quarter, which made his exit even more damaging for a team that had been leaning on him.
The play itself turned messy in an instant. Burden made the catch near the sideline, then took a hit from Rueben Bain that forced a fumble. Court Cronin said, 'That looked bad. Luther Burden gets hit and immediately loses possession of the ball. He collapsed face first into the ground and was helped off the field by trainers,'
What was still not clear after the medical evaluation was whether the injury would be ruled a concussion. He was being looked at in the medical tent, and that is the step teams use when a head injury is possible but not yet confirmed. In other words, the game had already lost him, but his longer-term status was still unresolved.
For the Chicago Bears, the immediate concern was whether Burden could return to the game. For Burden, who had already done the heavy lifting on offense, the next update would determine whether a productive night ended with a scare or something more serious.
