Packers players are joined by fans in linking arms during national anthem

The Green Bay Packers and some of their fans linked arms on Thursday night prior to their game against the Chicago Bears.

Aaron Rodgers and the Packers lined up on the sideline, arms locked together:

CBS cameras showed the fans adhering to the request to link arms:

ESPN’s Michele Steele tweeted that most fans did not actually link arms.

The Bears also linked arms during the anthem:

Earlier in the week, Aaron Rodgers made a request that fans join the team.

“This is about equality,” Rodgers said Tuesday. “This is about unity and love and growing together as a society and starting a conversation around something that may be a little bit uncomfortable for people.

“But we’ve got to come together and talk about these things and grow as a community, as a connected group of individuals in our society, and we’re going to continue to show love and unity, and this week we’re going to ask the fans to join in as well and come together and show people that we can be connected and we can grow together.”

The Packers would also later release a statement, inviting fans to link arms.

Some fans at the game yelled and chanted “USA” when the players locked arms. After, Rodgers said that he wasn’t discouraged.

“It was an invitation to join us. The beauty is, it’s a free country, so they can choose to do it or not,” Rodgers said, via ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. “The messaging of this unfortunately needs to continue to be redirected, I think. It’s never been about the national anthem, it’s never been about the military. We’re all patriotic in the locker room; we love our troops. This is about something bigger than that: an invitation to show unity in the face of some divisiveness from the top in this country.”

NFL players showed a variety of demonstrations during the national anthem during Week 3. Some players took a knee to protest police brutality and injustices against people of color, some linked arms in an attempt to deliver a message of “unity,” and some stayed off the field for the anthem entirely.

The outpouring of demonstrations was ignited by comments President Donald Trump made at a rally in Alabama last weekend, when he said NFL owners should fire players who “disrespect the flag” and called them “sons of bitches.”