The Pittsburgh Steelers won't be participating in the national anthem prior to Sunday's game against the Chicago Bears and will instead stay in the locker room, head coach Mike Tomlin told CBS' Jamie Erdahl.
"We're not going to play politics. We're football players, we're football coaches," said Tomlin. "We're not participating in the anthem today, not to be disrespectful to the anthem, to remove ourselves from the circumstance."
Here's Mike Tomlin's comments to @JamieErdahl on @NFLonCBS about the entire Steelers team not being on the field during the anthem today pic.twitter.com/YNVozP3I87
— Tyler R. Tynes (@TylerRickyTynes) September 24, 2017
Tomlin added that the Steelers decided to stay in the locker to avoid players being forced "to choose sides."
Sunday is expected to be a day of unprecedented demonstrations following President Donald Trump's call Friday for NFL players who protest during the anthem to be "fired."
The Jacksonville Jaguars and Baltimore Ravens, playing early Sunday in London, protested with a host of players kneeling and other members of the organizations opting to stand with arms locked, including Jaguars owner Shahid Khan.
