(Don McPeak/USA Today Sports)
This week, Brian Urlacher has been quite the popular topic in the media after making comments about how he won’t be rooting for the Chicago Bears to win the Super Bowl this year–which is understandable considering how things played out this offseason. Urlacher was hoping the Bears would negotiate a new deal with him to bring him back for the 2013 season, but the linebacker’s first pitch for an offer was too high for organization–so they ended up parting ways with him instead of trying to work things out.
Instead of signing with a new team, Urlacher decided to call it a career after 13 seasons–all of which were spent in Chicago. There’s no question Urlacher is a future Hall of Famer as he’s arguably one of the greatest linebackers to ever play the game. Unfortunately, Urlacher joined a list of NFL players who are some of the greatest of all time, but failed to ever earn the ultimate accomplishment of playing in the big games–which is earn a Super Bowl ring.
Throughout Urlacher’s career, Chicago had established a reputation for always having one of the top defenses in the league and there were a few different seasons in which the Bears seemed capable of winning the Super Bowl–only to fall short of their goal. Even last season, the Bears seemed like Super Bowl contenders after a strong first half of the season in which they contained one of the league’s top defenses and had a 7-1 record before collapsing in the second half by losing five of their final eight games.
Urlacher’s presence will certainly be missed on defense next year, but with the type of talent they have on paper, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Chicago had what it takes to compete in the NFC. Winning the Super Bowl may be a stretch to say at this point, but if the Bears do manage a way to come through as champions in February, Urlacher will know exactly how Tiki Barber felt when the New York Giants won the Super Bowl the first year after the running back retired following a 10-year career in which the team seemed like contenders at times–only to fall short each time.
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