LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Greg Olsen will try to help the Bears defeat the Detroit Lions Sunday at Soldier Field, but that won’t be his only goal. The third-year tight end will don pink cleats and gloves as part of a league-wide initiative to raise breast cancer awareness.

The cause hits close to home for Olsen, whose mother, Sue, is a breast cancer survivor.

Bears tight end Greg Olsen will wear pink cleats and gloves Sunday against the Lions.

“It kind of keeps everything in perspective about what’s important,” Olsen said. “We all think [football] is life and death. Obviously, this is very important. But there are other things outside of what we do here.

“It just shows if you can continue to fight through like she did and other people have, you can fight through. Adversity is going to happen. It teaches some lessons that kind of correlate with football. Things are going to happen on the field that aren’t going to go your way early and late. You just have to keep going, and if you continue to work and push through you’ll come out the other side all right.”

Every NFL team will host a breast cancer awareness game in October. Some players will wear pink cleats, wristbands and gloves. Sideline caps, helmet decals, captains’ patches and towels will also be pink. The campaign will also feature on-field pink ribbon stencils, pink goal-post padding and special K-balls with pink ribbon decals. In addition, coaches will wear pink caps and ribbons.

“I think it’s great what the NFL is doing,” Olsen said. “They’ve really picked it up even more so than last year. They’ve got a lot of cool things I think the fans are going to get a kick out of. 

"Anything you can do with the platform we have and the amount of eyes that are watching our games, the amount of  opportunities we have are endless.”

Fans can also support the cause by purchasing a “Real Bears Fans Wear Pink” t-shirt for $15 at events.org/pink or at Sunday’s game. The shirts will be available at the Bears Ultimate Tailgate, inside the stadium between Gates 1 and 3, and in the United Club.

Money raised will go to organizations in the Chicago area that provide care, assistance and support services to breast cancer patients and their families. On Sunday, fans are encouraged to wear the t-shirt to help raise awareness in the fight against breast cancer wherever they may be.

Olsen’s mother isn’t the only member of the Bears’ extended family to fight breast cancer. Cheryl Toub, the wife of special teams coordinator Dave Toub, and Marilyn Byrd, the wife of defensive assistant Gill Byrd, are among a handful of other survivors.

“Breast cancer affects millions each year including members of the NFL family and the Chicago Bears family,” said coach Lovie Smith. “We’re just trying to bring awareness to breast cancer; to get more people to talk about it, raise funds, and eventually hopefully find a cure for it.”