Mediacom world news portal
Pittsburgh Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin told CBS Sports that the team will not be participating in the national anthem at Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears. Tomlin says that the team will remain in the locker room during the traditional opening of the game so as not to “play politics” in a situation that has become increasingly political since Colin Kaepernick’s now-famous kneel during the national anthem last year and Donald Trump’s criticism of the NFL on Friday, calling for players who protest during the national anthem to be fired.
In an interview with Jaime Erdahl, Tomlin said that the Steelers would remain in the locker room during the anthem so that they were not forced to “choose sides.”
“We’re not going to play politics. We’re football players, we’re football coaches. We’re not participating in the anthem today, not to be disrespectful to the anthem, to remove ourselves from the circumstance.”