Members of Congress Want to Meet with Bears Over National Anthem Policy

Congress has requested to speak with the Chicago Bears over the NFL’s National Anthem Policy.

One thing is clear about the NFL players’ protests during the National Anthem, if you are the NFL, no matter any way you slice it, you are on the wrong side of the argument. They either alienate their players and agitate one half of their fan base or support their players and anger the other half of their fan base, and get mountains of bad press from the President and the White House.

Luckily for the Chicago Bears, they have basically steered clear of all this drama. The Bears’ players have always stood for the Anthem and none of the players have really gotten in the middle of any of the controversy with any outspoken statements.

However, when the NFL announced its new anthem policy, it was also announced that the vote was 31 in favor and 1 team abstained (the San Francisco 49ers). There were also conflicting reports that perhaps there was no formal vote, but regardless, it hasn’t been exactly clear what was voted upon, however it seems to be the consensus that the owners overwhelmingly favored this idea.

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A few members of Congress may not be pleased with the Bears’ ownership after those reports. According to the Chicago Sun Times, 4 Congressmen representing Illinois (all democrats) want to meet with the McCaskeys to discuss free speech and support players’ right to protest.

The four politicians (Robin Kelly, Bobby Bush, Danny Davis, Jan Schakowsky) sent the Bears’ a letter dated May 30th that requested the meeting.

The issue is complicated because there is no way to please everyone. There seems like there are better options than the path the NFL chose, but this is the path they are on and everyone has to support that, which George McCaskey reiterated.

But McCaskey made it clear his team’s stance about the National Anthem:

With McCaskey making a statement like that and Congress wanting to discuss the NFL’s policy and how the Bears voted, the Bears can no longer avoid this issue. This is going to start pushing into the conversation around the Bears whether fans want to hear about it or not.

Colin Kaepernick has not been a part of the NFL for 18 months but the impact of his decision to protest during the anthem continues to be at the front of almost every NFL conversation. It’s a conversation that won’t go away. With the NFL making decisions that will be seen as anti-player, this conversation is going to heat up a lot more before it ever goes away.