Bears LB Jerrell Freeman saves a man's life before reporting to camp

Saves are more a baseball stat than a football one, but Chicago Bears linebacker Jerrell Freeman got a save at the Austin airport on Sunday.

Freeman saved a man choking on his food at a restaurant inside the airport, the Chicago Tribune reported. Pretty lucky for Marcus Ryan that the Bears’ linebacker was there to perform the Heimlich maneuver.

It started with Freeman having one last unhealthy meal before flying to Chicago and reporting to training camp. He got a chopped brisket sandwich (“I’m not really supposed to be eating that,” Freeman told Dan Wiederer of the Tribune) and saw a man in distress at another table. He was choking on his food, and a woman tried to do the Heimlich without success. The NFL linebacker rushed over and did it a little more forcefully. The second try worked, and the choking man was saved.

“I’ve never done the Heimlich before,” Freeman told the Tribune. “I don’t think I’ve had any training or anything. My mom’s a nurse and she had talked about it. So I just did what I heard you should do. I guess it worked.”

Maybe it’s some good karma for Freeman and the Bears season.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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