Over the course of this past Wild Card weekend, something quietly remarkable happened across the NFL — and no, it’s not the fact that nearly every game was a competitive gem.
In every winning locker room, on every victorious sideline, at least one player publicly gave praise to God.
It wasn’t always polished sermons or explicitly citing the Bible, but it was usually done in a spontaneous acknowledgment of gratitude, humility, and dependence. In a welcome development, on the league’s biggest stages, faith was named rather than hidden.
That matters more than many realize.
In a culture that often treats religious conviction as something to be privatized, softened, or scrubbed from public life, even brief mentions of God carry weight — especially when they come from athletes whose voices reach millions.
These moments weren’t coordinated, and they weren’t performative; they were organic expressions of belief breaking through in interviews, celebrations, and postgame reflections.
Not every player said the same thing, and not every message was theologically deep.
But taken together, the pattern is unmistakable: faith still has a place in the public square, even at the highest levels of professional sports.
Below are just some of the video examples from this weekend:
Los Angeles Rams tight end Colby Parkinson, rocking his “Saddle up, we’re following the Lord” cap, didn’t hesitate to praise God after he caught a key touchdown in the Rams’ 34-31 win over the plucky Carolina Panthers.
“God is so good. I’m so blessed to be in this position and, um, every good and perfect gift is from the Lord and I believe that wholeheartedly, and it was pretty cool after I caught the touchdown say on the sideline I just looked up at my family and had shed a few tears,” he told reporters after the game. “Yeah, it was pretty cool. Pretty special.”
Fellow NFC tight end (and this weekend’s Divisional round opponent) Colston Loveland also praised God after his Chicago Bears beat their rivals, the Green Bay Packers:
“The halftime speech was – Ben actually showed us Atlanta vs New England first day of camp, the comeback, and said ‘hey we can do this.’ “
Our @Melanie_Collins with Colston Loveland after Bears win over Packers. pic.twitter.com/a1Tq6YHhIY
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) January 11, 2026
“All glory to God, first off,” Loveland said when asked to describe how he felt after the Bears’ first playoff win against the Packers since the Sunday after Pearl Harbor. “Been praying on this, and to see it come to fruition is very, very cool.”
Here’s how Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott began his postgame remarks, following a nail-biting road win over a tough Jacksonville Jaguars squad:
“Oh man,” McDermott began. “Great win, great team win on the road. Uh, glory to God, man, just an incredible team effort.”
But it’s not just head coaches or unheralded tight ends praising God. The list of players who know that He is ultimately in control extends to include some of the league’s biggest stars, such as San Francisco 49ers standout running back Christian McCaffrey.
“Christian, everything that this team has been through, all the injuries, not prevailing on the number one seed, coming on the road against the reigning champions, what does this say, this kind of win, about this group?” the Fox sidelines reporter asked McCaffrey.
“God is good, man,” the superstar dual-threat running back responded, without skipping a beat. “We just, our team fights. We take each day at a time.”
Funnily enough, few players from this weekend’s slate of NFL action had as much praise for God as New England Patriots rookie kicker Andy Borregales, whose three field goals helped his team secure the home win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday night:
When he was first asked about his alma mater, the University of Miami, playing in the upcoming college football national championship game, Borregales didn’t take the bait that there was just “something in the water” in Miami.
“I mean, at the end of the day, that’s just proof that God is real,” Borregales said. “You know, God is working down in Miami and obviously here in the Patriots.”
“Like, on my way here I was like I was like, ‘Wow,’” he said. “Like, I kind of took a step back, like dang, like I’m in the playoffs my rookie year. Not not too many people could say that, and again just praise God for that.”
After discussing how he’s getting to live his dream out, Borregales added: “And again, all I can do is really just praise God and thank him for, you know, the path that he has me on.”
Seen together, these moments form something larger than mere postgame soundbites.
They are reminders that faith still animates the lives of many who stand at the center of American culture — and that gratitude to God has not been fully pushed to the margins, even in an age that often pressures believers to stay silent.
Yet again and again, players chose acknowledgment over self-glorification, pointing upward in a way that quietly but powerfully affirms that faith, far from disappearing, is still lived — and still spoken — in public.
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