Nagy discusses George Floyd, demonstrations

[Staley Da Bear]

During an appearance Monday on NFL Network's "Good Morning Football," Bears coach Matt Nagy discussed the death of George Floyd and the demonstrations that continue throughout the country.


Nagy revealed that he contacted several Bears players over the weekend to offer his support about the situation involving Floyd, an unarmed black man who was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer last Monday.


"I think as you go through these situations, it's very important to listen, it's very important to be honest, open," Nagy said. "Obviously all of our thoughts and prayers are with all the families affected, most recently with George Floyd's family, and our prayers are for this country and the people.


"I've reached out to several of our players and our leaders this weekend and just let them know, No. 1, that they have my 100 percent support. I've got their back 100 percent. And they needed to know that No. 1. No. 2 was I was just going to listen and just be quiet, let them talk. And I thought that those conversations, with the guys that I was able to talk to, went really well. And it was great just listening to them and where they're at."


Nagy said the conversations were about "togetherness and being unified."


"Obviously there's a lot bigger picture to what's going on right now, but what we can control right now within our building is how we do things with the Chicago family and the Chicago Bears family, and togetherness is one way," Nagy said. "And that's listening to others and making sure that you have healthy discussions. There's going to be different opinions, but to listen and to do it together in the end."


Nagy also talked about the need for more love in the world.


"Here's a word that I think that gets lost a lot in this whole experience that we're all going through and it's a powerful word in my book and that's love," Nagy said. "Especially in the football world, I don't think love gets used enough. When people feel loved by one another, I just think it goes a long, long way, and that's built through the way that you treat people, and I've been fortunate enough to be around a lot of good human beings and good people in our family here in Chicago.


"It starts at the top with our ownership with Mrs. McCaskey, and then down to George McCaskey and Ted Phillips and Ryan Pace and many others and everybody in our building, and then it's with the coaches and the players. So these kind of situations that come up is something that we hit head on with and we discuss. But that love does not get used enough.


"As a matter of fact, today we're going to have a [virtual] team meeting. This was scheduled for months. This was when we start with OTAs here with having a consistent schedule with the entire team. And we're going to talk and discuss everything that's going on right now and put X's and O's on the back burner. We don't care about that right now.


"We're going to talk through it, and if guys want to talk more or less, that's fine. It's up to them. 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."