The NFL, a league that hates "distractions," faced tumultuous times when Donald Trump ripped players who protest racial injustice by kneeing during the national anthem and new league rules that help keep players safer on the field. In response, teams carried out demonstrations of unity during the national anthem. It's not clear how the league and its teams will respond moving forward, but on Sunday, we got a behind-the-scenes glimpse into how the league has handled the situation thus far.

On Sunday, ESPN published a story written by the Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham. In that story, ESPN gives a detailed look at how the NFL reacted to the entire situation. Included in that story: The league actually proposed an idea that involved "Team America" patches.

From the story:

There was a general, if fanciful, consensus that even a short-term financial hit could benefit the league in the long term, especially if the league and the union could join in solidarity behind a single plan. That's how the league's marketing department was planning to proceed, even if some of the rough ideas fell flat. One idea had all players wearing a patch on their jerseys that would read, "Team America." An owner briefed on the proposal simply shook his head: "We need to do better than that."

The only thing missing from that proposed patch? "World Police." Luckily for the NFL's sake, it did not opt to move forward with the patch, which almost definitely would've been ridiculed. 

The entire situation has been strange. It began on Sept. 22 when Trump called for players who protest racial injustice by remaining seated during the anthem to be fired.

"Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a b---- off the field right now," Trump said to a cheering crowd. "Out. He's fired. He's fired."

 "You know, some owner is going to do that, he's going to say, 'That guy that disrespects our flag, he's fired,'" he continued. "And that owner, they don't know it -- they're friends of mine, many of them -- they don't know it, they'll be the most popular person for a week, they'll be the most popular person in this country, because that's a total disrespect of our heritage, that's a total disrespect of everything that we stand for."

Trump also mocked player safety rules for "ruining the game."

"Today, if you hit too hard, if they hit too hard, 'Fifteen yards, throw him out of the game,'" Trump said. "They had that last week, I watched for a couple of minutes."

"Two guys, just a really beautiful tackle, boom, fifteen yards, the referee gets on television, his wife is sitting at home, she's so proud of him," Trump also said. "They're ruining the game, right? They're ruining the game."

The response was swift. Before Sunday's slate of Week 3 games, teams condemned his remarks and players didn't hold back on Twitter. Before the games, members of the Dolphins wore shirts in support of Colin Kaepernick, some teams didn't even come out for the national anthem -- the demonstrations were widespread, so here's an in-depth recap of what happened.

Of course, the issue didn't die last week. Trump, along with attorney general Jeff Sessions, advocated for a rule mandating players to stand for the anthem. Trump also used his favorite platform, Twitter, to continue criticizing the NFL.

Of note:

So, it'll be interesting to see how the situation develops moving forward. In the meantime, go read ESPN's story, because it's worth a read.