Three pairs of brothers will be on the field during Sunday’s Bears-Lions game, a very rare occurrence in NFL history.
Lions offensive tackle Penei Sewell may block his brother, Bears rookie linebacker Noah Sewell, in their first game against each other in the NFL. Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown will play against his brother, Bears wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown, for the fifth time in their NFL careers. And Lions pass rushers and brothers Romeo Okwara and Julian Okwara will line up together as usual.
Bears-Lions is only be the second matchup in NFL history with three pairs of brothers playing, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, via Eric Woodyard of ESPN. The previous occurrence was Steelers-Bengals in 1979. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati played twice that year, meaning there were two games featuring Matt and Chris Bahr, Jim and Ross Browner and Archie and Ray Griffin.
Penei Sewell (who has another brother, Nephi, who plays for the Saints, and yet another brother, Gabriel, who plays in the USFL), said taking the same field as his brothers is a dream come true for his family.
“It brings me back to the moments we were in the backyard playing with a water bottle as a football and just going at it. It brings back a lot of great memories,” Penei Sewell told ESPN.
Equanimeous St. Brown, whose father was a champion bodybuilder and whose other brother Osiris played at Stanford, also said competition was huge in his family.
“I was lucky to have a dad and a brother, and we would put in a lot of extra work,” Equanimeous St. Brown told ESPN. “To make it to this level, everyone’s putting in a lot of extra work. You can’t just go to practice and go home. That’s not gonna cut it.”
Sunday will be a special day for three families.