Only a small handful of injuries actually deal in "luck." And GB's average injury history means much less because the injury program did a 360 in 2014.
70% of all MCL/ACL/PCL injuries are noncontact and some of the 30% of the contact injuries, contact was only a contributing factor or happened despite the injury that would have occurred with contact or not.
Walter Payton had instincts that allowed him to know when to plant, zig, zag, twist, curl up, lay out and/or leave his feet, etc. to avoid injury. Much of this was natural instinct; but it's an instinct that can be honed to a degree through muscle memory and alertness established during practice. EG, a lot of injuries occur when guys are standing around “the pile” with the awareness of a jamoch waiting for a bus. Then someone rolls off “the pile” or guy/guys playing "after the whistle" away from “the pile” but moving toward it careen into the back of the legs of the pile-watchers. Focusing on having your head on a swivel when standing around the Pile in practice will bear fruit during the game in reducing injury and this will have a cumulative affect year after year.
Hamstrings, other muscle or soft tissue injuries are overwhelmingly caused by a lack of discipline concerning nutrition; hydration; stretching; warming up/down and/or recognizing muscle fatigue and taking measures to reduce that fatigue.
The “Monday morning treatments;” the practice schedule; things like constant hydration testing [which serves to hold players accountable]; Mike McCarthy continuing to refine and develop good practice habits and muscle memory techniques designed to reduce the odds of injury; and guys like Hayward, who were resistant to change until witnessing last year’s results and today stand as determined to buy into the program; will keep GB’s 2010-2013 injury history in the past.
Injuries in the coming years will be much more like 2014, rather than 2010-13.