Mike Ditka has 'no respect' for Kaepernick: 'Don't like our flag ... get the hell out'

The former Bears coach didn't mince any words

Former Bears coach Mike Ditka is a very conservative human being. There is no debating this. So it wouldn't be surprising to see him come down on the opposite side of Colin Kaepernick when it comes to the 49ers quarterback's protest against the national anthem and the American flag.

But Ditka's got a pretty aggressive message for Kap, one he delivered while interviewing with CBS Sports Radio affiliate 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, saying he can "get the hell out" of America if he doesn't "like our flag."

"I think it's a problem...anybody who disrespects this country and the flag," Ditka said. "If they don't like the country they don't like our flag ... get the hell out."

Ditka also said he has "no respect" for Kaepernick and didn't care if Kap had any respect for him.

"I have no respect for Colin Kaepernick -- he probably has no respect for me, that's his choice," Ditka said. "My choice is, I like this country, I respect our flag, and I don't see all the atrocities going on in this country that people say are going on."

Suffice to say, Ditka would probably fall in the category of people who look at Kap as the "most disliked" person in the NFL.

His opinion is pretty ridiculous though, because it's essentially grounded in his decision to say whatever he wants because he lives in a country that offers the freedoms to say whatever he wants.

Those freedoms are precisely what make America such a fantastic country. But those freedoms also afford individuals the right to do whatever they want -- stand, sit, kneel, squat, sleep, whatever -- when the national anthem is being played.

Kaepernick and Ditka are, essentially, exercising the exact same freedoms offered to them by this wonderful country. One of them is just doing it a little less aggressively.

CBS Sports Senior Writer

Will Brinson joined CBS Sports in 2010 and enters his seventh season covering the NFL for CBS. He previously wrote for FanHouse along with myriad other Internet sites. A North Carolina native who lives... Full Bio

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