It’s been a decade since former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sparked headlines — and quite a bit of ire and controversy — over his attempts to have an uncomfortable conversation about social justice reform.
Kaepernick felt that the best way to go about his cause was to kneel during the traditional performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before major sports games.
Those antics did not go over well, with swaths of Americans who felt that Kaepernick’s demonstration was beyond disrespectful to the U.S. flag and country.
It was a legitimate PR nightmare for the NFL, as its viewership took a noticeable hit during Kaepernick’s protests.
Those ratings have since rebounded, and, to be clear, “bad” NFL ratings are still multiples higher than other television programming.
But that doesn’t mean the NFL has any interest in revisiting that controversy anytime soon.
Alas, the internet was none too pleased with the NFL this week after an actual star quarterback (Kaepernick was largely a back-up in 2016) was seen “disrespecting” America during Monday Night Football.
The Chicago Bears, minus their star quarterback Caleb Williams, stomped all over the Philadelphia Eagles in a 27-7 home win.
Williams is out with a hamstring injury, but still accompanied the team ahead of the big primetime match-up.
The NFL opened up Monday night’s festivities with a mariachi band playing the national anthem (which drew its own criticisms).
See if you can spot “Iceman” (a nickname which Williams has been trying to lift from NBA legend George Gervin) during this recital:
The Mariachi Herencia de México performed the national anthem in Chicago 🎶 pic.twitter.com/6Sv20SBqIr
— ESPN (@espn) September 29, 2026
If you fast forward to right about the 49-second mark, you can clearly see Williams in his sweats, wearing sunglasses, and casually strolling on the sideline. That was in stark juxtaposition to the other Bears and Eagles players and coaches, who were standing at attention for the anthem.
Christian sports pundit Jon Root actually had little issue with the mariachi band. His focus was on Williams.
“I may be in the minority here, but I thought the mariachi band playing the United States National Anthem for Monday [Night] Football was kinda cool,” Root posted. “The problem people should have is Caleb Williams disrespecting the flag by walking around during the Anthem.”
Other X users echoed these sentiments, with one posting: “Caleb Williams too good for the national anthem? Just wandering the sideline.”
Notably, this isn’t the first time that Williams has been questioned about his behavior during the national anthem.
As Fox News pointed out, Williams was similarly grilled last season when he was spotted hamming it up with a teammate during “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
10/10 National Anthem. No notes. pic.twitter.com/byEsg27xzE
— NFL (@NFL) September 9, 2025
The Bears will host the woeful New York Jets on Sunday. Williams is not expected to play, as he continues to recover from his injury.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
Ad block users: Some site features may not work correctly while an ad blocker is enabled, because they break scripts and content this website depends on. If you can’t see comments below, for example, please disable your ad blocker.
