Screw the Bears and the NFL

Bears kneel, raise fists for national anthem; others stay in locker room

Bears players had different approaches to protest Sunday.
By Patrick Finley Updated Sep 13, 2020, 12:08pm CDT


Bears tight end Jimmy Graham raises his first during the national anthem Sunday. Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images



DETROIT — The Bears wanted to have a unified response to racial injustice and their game-day protests. Sunday, though, featured different responses by different players.

Nine players kneeled during the national anthem: defensive linemen Akiem Hicks, Roy Robertson-Harris, Brent Urban, John Jenkins and Bilal Nichols, as well as linebackers Joel Iyiegbuniwe and Josh Woods; and offensive linemen Bobby Massie and Rashaad Coward. Other coaches and staffers did, too.

It was notable, as no Bears player has ever kneeled during the anthem. Bears players said this offseason that they felt more comfortable to protest than they did when former 49ers Colin Kaepernick began kneeling to protest police violence and racial injustice in 2016.

Outside linebacker James Vaughters, tight end Jimmy Graham and kicker Cairo Santos raised their fists in the air.

Other plays stood for the anthem, with some linking arms with their teammates.

And another Bears 21 players came out of the locker room only after the anthem had been played.

Coach Matt Nagy stood between quarterback Mitch Trubisky, who was standing, and Hicks. He put his arm around Hicks.

Quarterback Matthew Stafford was among the Lions to kneel.

Bears starting tackles Charles Leno and Massie kneeled during the playing of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” sometimes referred to as the Black national anthem, about a half hour before Sunday’s game against the Lions.

This year, the league is also playing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” before games, alongside a video displayed on scoreboards. At the ned of their stretching period, both teams stood along the 20-yard line during the playing of the song. Bears players either stood or linked arms, except for Leno and Massie, who kneeled next to each other.

The Bears held an emotional team meeting on Zoom in the wake of the George Floyd killing at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. After Jacob Blake was shot in the back seven times by Kenosha, Wisconsin, police, the Bears joined other NFL teams — including the first team to do so, the Lions — in skipping one day of practice. Instead, they spoke about social injustice together.


The Bears developed an anthem plan during the week.

“What I like about that is that we’ve been talking about it and it’s, again, what I think is very important is the most important part is what you talk about, why you do what you do, and then you do it together,” coach Matt Nagy said Friday. “I think you’re going to see that a lot of people, a lot of different teams, are going to have different ideas and suggestions and thoughts as to what they do.


“There’s a lot of opinions that everybody has. That’s obvious. You saw that [Thursday] night [between the Chiefs and Texans]. What’s important right now is to make sure that we talk about it, we discuss it, which we’re doing and have done. And then in the end, we understand what we have in each other and why we’re doing what we’re doing.”

In the first game of the year, on Thursday, the Texans decided to stay in their locker room during the anthem, while the Chiefs stood during it. The two teams came together for a show of unity before the game began.

Bears chairman George McCaskey said Thursday that protesting during the anthem is divisive topic.

“For everybody who says that the players should take a knee you find somebody else who says no, the players should stand with their hands over their hearts during the anthem,” he said. “So I don’t know that there’s any absolute right way to handle it. We’re doing the best we can to navigate some difficult waters under the circumstances.

“And we’re encouraging our players to follow their hearts and their consciences, and one of the things that impresses me the most is that for our guys it’s not just taking a knee. They want to have a positive impact on the community. They want to follow up symbolism with concrete action. And that’s very encouraging to see.”