What does it mean to take a knee in football?

Before 2017:

There are several ways the football expression, take a knee, is used to explain a situation in the game.

#1 – Team winning and time is almost out – If the offense is ahead in the last couple of plays of the half or the game, the quarterback will often “take a knee” which is essentially like he was tackled in bounds. This will allow the clock to continue to run to help end the game without the offense trying to run any more official plays. It is done partly to respect they’ve won and not try and score more points and partly to protect the ball and players from injury. This is often called the Victory Formation.

#2 – Touchback – this is done when a kick-off is received in the end zone.  The receiving player may touch their knee to the ball signaling to everyone they are not going to attempt to advance the ball for any yardage. This results in a touchback.

#3 – Injury respect – If a player appears to be seriously injured, members of either or both teams may ‘take a knee’ out of respect and may even be seen praying together that everything is ok for the injured player. It really is moving to see such big guys on opposing teams show so much respect.

After 2017:

Well, this is an entirely different beast. Starting with Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the National Anthem to call attention to injustices in the United States. I’m not going to get into that because it is a pretty fiery subject, but suffice it to say, there are a million amazing ways to use your celebrity platform for good in this world but disrespecting the flag that gives you the right to make those stands may not  be the best way to accomplish your goal.

How the expression, “take a knee”, be used in real life:

You can use this in real life when you have clearly beaten someone at something. When you feel you’ve won, you can let the other person know you are going to take a knee. This will indicate the competition is over, at least for now!