It’s no surprise that insane hours of work are a thing in the league. Typically during the regular season, players are estimated to practice and train six days a week, with just one day off for rest and recovery. That is approximately 60 hours per week barring travel time or game days. On game days, players can grind up to 10 hours, including pre-game preparation, the game itself, and post-game activities. However, this is not just the norm for players, apparently.

Even coaches and GMs can’t be immune to the hustle bug. Ryan Poles, the Chicago Bears GM recently spilled about his mind-boggling 60-hour week.

Poles carried a mattress to Bears HQ

The former offensive lineman was on board with the franchise earlier this year. While he was immensely proud to join the Bears, which was according to his words, one of the ‘prestigious clubs in all of sports’, it almost made Poles crash at their headquarters. Poles told in an interview with ESPN‘s  Courtney Cronin, that he had to work more than 60 hours per week. It almost made him get a foam mattress to Hallas Hall and sleep overnight.

However he had to put in the effort to make things work, he admits.“But it was necessary to get the job done, so a little bit different approach.”

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In hindsight, he acknowledges that devilish working hours were not a good idea.

“That was not healthy doing that last year,” Poles stated. “I don’t ever want to go through that again.

It’s commendable that Poles at least managed to catch some shut-eye amid his demanding schedule. That is a win when there are folks in the league who runs on little to no hours of sleep.

The cost of a sleep

When Vikings assistant head coach Mike Pettine joined the Jets back in 2009 as a coordinator, he used to crash on a queen-size air mattress in the closet adjacent to head coach Ryan Rex’s room, only getting three to four hours per night. On game days, he found himself in a haze while trying to call plays. Realizing its deleterious effects on players, he brought Harvard Medical School physician Dr. Charles Czeisler to educate the team about good sleep habits.

Persistence and hard work are important but never sleep on the power of rest and recovery.

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