Chiefs won't memorialize Jovan Belcher before Panthers game

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs did not publicly memorialize linebacker Jovan Belcher before Sunday's game against the Carolina Panthers.

Belcher fatally shot himself in the parking lot of the team's training facility Saturday morning less than 30 minutes after police said he shot his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, to death at the home the couple shared with his mother and their infant daughter.

Instead, the Chiefs held a moment of silence in honor of all domestic violence victims.

Players did not wear decals on their helmets nor patches on their jerseys to remember their teammate.

Teams have had to deal with the deaths of players during the season in past years, including prior suicides. But the murder Belcher also committed has put the Chiefs in a delicate and unprecedented situation.

"It's been a rough 24 hours for our family, and the entire organization," Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said. "We have so many guys on the team and the coaching staff who are really, really hurting."

Hunt said he had "numerous" conversations with Commissioner Roger Goodell on the decision to play Sunday. "It's just different," he said. "There's really nothing you can do to prepare for this."

Kansas City players were expected to remember Belcher privately in the locker room.