Chicago Bears players react to Colin Kaepernick protest; Kyle Long has perfect response

Public figures and politics sometimes mix as well as oil and water, but we have never been without some sort of controversy coming from singers, athletes, actors, etc. regarding their political stances.  They have a natural platform, being in the public eye, so anything they want to be known, it's easy enough to broadcast.

Colin Kaepernick has been in the news for weeks now for not standing during pre-game National Anthems, and regardless of whether you agree with him or not, one thing is inarguable: It's his right. It's one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, parts of being an American.

Recently, some Chicago Bears players have made their opinions known about the Kaepernick controversy.

Offensive lineman Kyle Long summed his thoughts up the best:  "I will always stand for the national anthem. I will also acknowledge the fact that racism is real. People deal with it every day. It's wrong."

Other Bears players, including Danny Trevathan and Willie Young, we also asked about it.

Danny Trevathan: "He did what he felt he had to do, you know. He has the right to do that. I believe if you want to do it, you should do it, but you have to know what you stand for and give it what you got. You know, a lot of people see things differently."

"I know what my job is here, I know my responsibilities are and I know how I feel about certain things. I'm here right now to win games and that's really my focus. So, you know the anthem is not something that I would avoid or anything like that. But at the same time, I'm here to focus on winning games, so that's the bottom line for me."

Willie Young: "I've got too much going on right here at Halas Hall to worry about what he's got going on,"

At the end of the day, things are only as big of a deal as we make them, and the United States is the poster-child for modern day manufactured outrage. Somehow politics have become more about race and religion than anything else, which is quite sad considering the U.S. is among the most prosperous and free countries in the entire world.

Using their own platforms, at least these three Chicago Bears players didn't make as big of a deal out of the Kaepernick protests as some others.

Stay tuned...