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Brandon Marshall Goes Green for Mental Health Awareness Week



Bears receiver Brandon Marshall had a monster game against the Giants on Thursday. He caught nine passes for 87 yards and two touchdowns. And if ever you lost track of where he was on the field, all you had to do was look at the shoes. Marshall wore lime green cleats last night — not to make a fashion statement, but to show his support for Mental Health Awareness Week.

In 2011, Marshall was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Since then, he has been active in supporting mental health issues. Wearing the lime green shoes on Thursday Night Football was a high-profile way of getting people talking about mental health. But his choice of footwear also put him in violation of the NFL's uniform policy, which states: "Each player on a given team must wear the same colors on his uniform as all other players on his team in the same game."

Clearly, lime green isn't in the Bears' color scheme. So when the league caught wind of Marshall's plan, it threatened to keep him out of the game all together. Days before the game, the NFL changed its mind and said Marshall could play — he'll just get fined. And Marshall was OK with that.

"I'm going to get fined and I'm going to match that, and we want to partner with a cancer-care [charity]," Marshall told ESPN before the game. "We're still working on the details to give, really give back to an organization that is doing work in the mental health area. [Also], the diagnosis of breast cancer can hit families hard. It affects all of us." (Marshall mentions breast cancer because October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and players and coaches across the league are allowed to wear pink to show support for that cause.)

What do you think of Marhsall wearing those lime green cleats last night? Do you think he should be fined for wearing them? Let us know in the comments section below!

Photo: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

brandon marshall mental health awareness cleats