While his old team was making a statement by not practicing Thursday, former Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher was making a statement of his own.
Writing on Instagram, the Bears’ most recent Hall of Famer — and the face of the franchise for more than a decade — demeaned NBA players’ playoff boycott by contrasting it with a signature performance by former Packers quarterback Brett Favre.
On Dec. 23, 2003, Favre led the Packers to a victory over the Raiders on “Monday Night Football” a day after his father, Irvin, died of a heart attack.
“Brett Favre played the MNF game the day his dad died [sic], threw 4 TDs in the first half and was a legend for playing in the face of adversity,” the post on the verified 54Urlacher account read. “NBA players boycott the playoffs because a dude reaching for a knife, wanted on [a] felony sexual assault warrant, was shot by police.”
NBA players did not play Wednesday or Thursday in protest of police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, shooting Jacob Blake, a Black man, in the back Sunday. Blake, who survived, is an Evanston Township High School alum.
Urlacher’s Instagram account also appeared to “like” a post that called for the freeing of Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old Antioch resident charged with first-degree homicide, among other allegations, after killing two people and injuring a third during protests Tuesday night in Kenosha. The post featured a picture of Rittenhouse holding an assault rifle with the phrase “patriot lives matter” written beneath it. The Sun-Times viewed screenshots of the “like” but could not independently verify it via Instagram because the original poster’s account is set to private. Urlacher, however, follows the person who posted the image.
At least one Bears player noticed — and promised more would soon. Linebacker Josh Woods was asked Thursday afternoon on Twitter if the Bears had talked among themselves about Urlacher’s post.
“No,” he wrote. “But we’re going to. #BlackLivesMatter.”
Former teammate Matt Forte didn’t mince words when tweeting about Urlacher’s post. He wrote it was “void of empathy, compassion, wisdom and coherence. But full of pride and ignorance.”
