Lions' Matt Patricia: Team Will Talk Football Again When Ready Amid Protests

Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia isn't going to put a timeline on when his team will go back to talking about football and the upcoming season. 

Per Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer, Patricia noted the ongoing unrest in the country as a result of the George Floyd killing led to the Lions adjusting their offseason plans to put football on the backburner:

"When everyone's ready to talk and move in that direction of football, we'll move when the team wants to move. I think the one thing to understand there—we won't move away from the conversation. It's just, at some point, you're having the conversation and then you're also working on what we do, which is football."

According to Breer, Patricia and the Lions adjusted their scheduled virtual meeting on Monday to give each of the team's coaches, players, coordinators and support staff a forum to express their thoughts about Floyd's killing and the ongoing protests throughout the country. 

Patricia credited the players for leading the call, which was "just about listening and making sure we tried to get on and open it up for conversation, real conversation, truthful conversation, honest conversation, heartfelt conversation."

A number of NFL teams pivoted from what they had planned to discuss during virtual meetings this week to talk about the ongoing situation in the United States. 

Per Pro Football Talk's Charean Williams, Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy canceled all player and team meetings on Tuesday in support of Blackout Tuesday. 

Nagy told NFL Network's Good Morning Football on Monday that Bears players and coaches did speak about what's happened in the week since Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. 

The Lions were set to begin Phase 3 of their offseason program this week, which would include installing their offensive and defensive schemes for the upcoming season, but that has been delayed for the time being until the team is ready to get back to football.