Faith and Football: Christian Values Shine in the NFL This Week

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It’s an exciting time of year for football fans. The College Football Playoff games have officially begun, and as the NFL season is nearing an end, we’re learning which teams will land a place in a postseason and which ones will have to settle for better draft picks. But off the field, I’ve noticed something else happening over the past week: a strong outpouring of Christian faith.

It’s not unusual to see football players pray before or after a game or thank God when they win. (And how many times have we heard the tired old atheist line about how God doesn’t care about football games? Don’t get me started on that…) But something about this week felt a little different. Maybe it’s the Christmas spirit. I know people love to rag on the NFL for everything from its woke initiatives to some of the players’ criminal behavior, but I’ve always felt like the good far outweighs the bad within the sport. The good just doesn’t always get as much attention. And, quite frankly, it’s refreshing to see these men with this huge platform fearlessly speak out about their beliefs.

On Saturday, the Baltimore Ravens beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 34-17, which secured the Ravens’ spot in the playoffs. After the game, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh stood before reporters to talk about the action on the field, as he always does, but he began his press conference with something a little different this time. “I just want to start with this because this is important to me and to a lot of people on this week, Christmas… I read this to the team in our postgame prayer,” he said before reading Luke 1:46-47 from the Bible.

“And Mary said: ‘My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,'” it says.

Harbaugh, who hasn’t been shy about sharing his faith in the past, added his own Christmas message:

So, I just want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas, happy holiday season, and rejoice. Rejoice. Rejoice in life. Rejoice in your circumstances. Rejoice in the tough games. Rejoice in the losses. Rejoice in the wins like we’re blessed to do today as a football team, and just rejoice in the people that you love, the people that are close to you. Rejoice. We aren’t here on this Earth to worry about every little thing and spar with one another. We’re here to rejoice in one another and with one another and love one another. Let’s try to remember that this week. This is a big football week, alright? It’s also a big life week. It’s a big spiritual week.

Down South in Atlanta, another big name in the NFL not only showed off his Christian faith but also showed the world how to be a leader and stay humble at the same time. Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins was benched this week in favor of his backup, rookie Michael Penix, Jr. Before the two men took the field for the game against the New York Giants, cameras caught the NFL veteran leading Penix in prayer.

And finally, if you were watching the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans on Saturday, you probably saw Texans wide receiver Tank Dell suffer a gruesome injury that left him with a torn ACL and dislocated kneecap. The injury was so bad that the TV crew wouldn’t replay it, and it left Texans quarterback CJ Stroud in tears as he watched his friend and teammate carted off the field.

After the game, in which the Texans lost, Stroud addressed the media. “All you can do is really pray. It’s been a day. God still gets the glory. Always, no matter what happens to me, I always know that I’m even up here because of the grace of Jesus.” You can see his entire statement here:

After the game, men from both teams, including Stroud, gathered on the field to pray together.

Stroud has said in the past that other NFL players have come forward and thanked him for being such an outspoken Christian. His response? “I’m not doing it to look cool. I’m doing it because that’s what God called me to do.”