What has the NFL come down to? There are chain crew members getting injured now. This is probably one of the weirdest things that happened in a live NFL game. A chain crew member being carted off might be something unheard of. Nonetheless, it happened in the Texans–Bears game.

A fan post on X said, “Injury update: Chain Crew: Dwight Steffler is up and walking, he is ruled out for the remainder of the game.” There’s also a video that shows the crew member tripping and falling down. The nature of his injury is not clear, though, despite him being seen getting carted off the field.

As the Texans offense moved towards the sideline, Steffler took a few steps back and stepped on the 20-yard line marker and fell backwards. Reports say that his head hit the turf and that his glasses went flying off. The medical staff immediately attended to him and upon consulting him, carted him off the field.

There weren’t many bystanders who witnessed the event happen, except NBCs sideline reported Melissa Stark, who gave a detailed picture of what happened to the chain gang member on the sidelines.

“He initially, when the play ran out towards him, you could see right there, fell back and hit his head. And the Bears medical staff immediately came over to try to help. They brought over the paramedics and their equipment,” Melissa said.

She further added, “They sat him up and he began talking. And they asked for the cart to come out and now you can see him. I’m a little bit blocked from him, but they have him getting ready to take him off the field.” It’s interesting to note that Steffler has also been a part of the chain gang crew and served in a past Super Bowl game.

However, this isn’t the first time when a chain gang member has injured himself.

A bad day for the chain gang members

Reportedly, a chain crew member suffered a cardiac arrest in the Raiders–Ravens game today. He collapsed on the field and was given CPR. The medical emergency happened with 2:36 remaining in the second quarter and it caused a slight delay in the schedule. However, the delay is nothing to worry about.

The good news is, in an X post, the Ravens declared the crew member to be “alert and responsive” when he was leaving the field to be admitted in a local hospital. Players and coaches on both sides showed respect and took a knee in support of the injured crew member.

The Ravens took to X and wrote, “A member of the chain gang crew collapsed. He was immediately attended to by medical personnel. Upon leaving the field, he was alert and responsive. He’s being taken to a local hospital.”

The injuries to chain crew members are something that we don’t hear about daily. However, 3 injuries in a day are something astonishing, especially when they happened to crew members who aren’t even playing the game. Hopefully, some safety measures for the chain crew members should be in place. The safety precautions won’t hurt anyone, that’s for sure.