Bears pause for ‘Blackout Tuesday’

Bears coach Matt Nagy canceled team and player meetings Tuesday to support “Blackout Tuesday,” sources confirmed to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The concept of “Blackout Tuesday” began in the music industry Monday night, when Spotify, Apple and others said they’d stop most operations for one day to honor the nationwide protests in the wake of the George Floyd killing.

The concept gained popularity on social media, with artists, athletes and regular users using a hashtag and posting a picture of a black box to vow to halt social media posts for the day.

Bears chairman George McCaskey issued a statement Monday night saying “we must do more than wring our hands” in the wake of the killing.

Nagy told NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” on Monday that the Bears had planned to “put X’s and O’s on the back burner” Monday. The virtual two-hour meeting they held focused on social justice.

“We’re going to talk through it, and if guys want to talk more or less, that’s fine — it’s up to them,” Nagy said Monday. “But I think that’s where it’s about the family. My wife and I teach our four boys about respect and love, and now’s the time to prove it and show it. And that’s what we’re going to do.”

Pro Football Talk first reported the decision.