George McCaskey, Bears Chairman, Discusses Concussions in NFL

Chicago Bears chairman George McCaskey has firsthand experience with concussions. His son suffered a concussion while playing high school football and became a “different person” for a stretch of five months.

So when McCaskey spoke on the role the Bears and the NFL could play in raising concussion awareness and making football a safer game, it came from a unique perspective.

“I don’t think just the Bears, although we welcome that responsibility,” McCaskey said Wednesday in a meeting with the Chicago Sun-Times’ editorial board, per Adam Jahns. “We’re a voice in a room. But the NFL can be a leader to bring about change in culture, in science, in rules, in rule application, in equipment design and function that can benefit all sports.”

McCaskey was joined by NFL senior vice president of health and safety Jeff Miller and Dr. Beth Pieroth, a neuropsychologist who works with the Bears and Chicago Blackhawks. The meeting covered the role the NFL has and will continue to play in decreasing concussions.

McCaskey said he would rather a player—specifically running back Matt Forte—safely take himself out of bounds rather than putting himself at risk to go for a first down.

“I would take that anytime,” McCaskey said. “I think that message has to get out to players at all levels.”

McCaskey said he also believes coaches would buy into such a situation if it became the norm.

The NFL is currently in the midst of settling a long-standing lawsuit filed by former players who claimed the league hid the danger of repetitive head trauma for years. Groundbreaking research spearheaded by Boston University has found an overwhelming majority of NFL players whose brains were studied showed signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative brain disorder.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.