The Chicago Bears are making every effort to re-emphasize the NFL’s stringent locker room video policy to players after Tarik Cohen live-streamed video on Instagram that inadvertently showed Kyle Long nude following the team’s win over the Washington Redskins on Monday night.
Bears head coach Matt Nagy addressed the situation Wednesday morning and stressed while it was all an accident on Cohen’s part, the team will be sure to keep closer tabs on what players are up to in the locker room going forward.
“Without a doubt, it is [a policy going forward],” Nagy said, via ESPN’s Jeff Dickerson. “First of all, it’s a league rule, so that’s that. And I think it’s unfortunate that that happened. Tarik feels bad and is apologetic and embarrassed that it happened.
“I think it’s something that you need to do is you learn from it. It was a mistake and nothing that is malicious at all. But it was a mistake so let’s make sure that that mistake doesn’t happen again to all of our players.”
Players are strictly prohibited from posting messages, video or otherwise, on any social media platform from 90 minutes prior to kickoff until all media obligations, including postgame interviews, are complete.
There have been a handful of incidents over the years where the world of social media has encroached upon the expected privacy afforded by NFL locker rooms. One such instance occurred in 2014 that involved then-Indianapolis Colts teammates Pat McAfee and Andrew Luck in circumstances similar to what occurred Monday night in the Bears’ locker room.
Perhaps the most infamous instance of postgame locker room footage getting posted by a player involved Antonio Brown streaming video on Facebook Live following the Pittsburgh Steelers’ playoff win over the Kansas City Chiefs in 2017, in which Mike Tomlin made an unflattering remark about the New England Patriots.
In the end, the Bears organization had no choice but to quickly address the issue, and by doing so, odds are nothing scandalous of this nature will occur again anytime soon.
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