So there it was. Minnesota facing a 4th-and-1 on the Bears' 36-yard line, trailing by three with 4:12 to play in the third quarter. Gus Frerotte faked and rolled out looking for tight end Jimmy Kleinsasser, only to have him smothered by Bears Linebacker Brian Urlacher. With his primary option covered, Frerotte turfed the ball, giving it over to the Bears on downs.
“That a baby, Urlacher” I shouted delightfully. Then something surprising and somewhat sad hit me. This was the first play of this season that I could actually recall Brian Urlacher making a decidedly big play.
It’s a very sad thought as a Bear fan to think Urlacher could be loosing steam in his career, but the evidence is hard to ignore. If ever there is a big play being made on the defensive side of the ball this season, No. 54 just doesn’t seem to be in the area.
It’s not just his play that evokes doubt. It goes without saying Urlacher is the life force of the defense; he has been since he’s been in Chicago. When he is at his most dominate, so are the Bears.
Who could forget the Oct. 16, 2006 game at Arizona? Down by 20 points and dealing with an inept offense that committed six turnovers, the Bears' defense led an inspiring charge to get back in the game, scoring two touchdowns and forcing a three-and-out which lead to a game-winning punt return by Devin Hester.
Right at the center of this valiant effort was Urlacher, who had an astonishing 19 tackles and forced a fumble, which led to the second defensive touchdown. He seemingly enforced a silently confident swagger that let his teammates know they simply were not going to lose that game.
Now that swagger just isn’t there. It wasn’t there last year when the Bears fell to 27th in the league, defensively. And it isn’t there this season. They Bears sit at 4-3 with all three losses coming from blown fourth-quarter leads.
Then there was Sunday’s game against Minnesota where they allowed a Viking offense, led by Gus Frerotte, the same Gus Frerotte whose career highlight was injuring his neck slamming his head into a concrete wall, to put up 41 points against them while nearly squandering another fourth-quarter lead.
I am as much a believer in the “a win is a win” philosophy as anybody, but when you let a Gus Frerotte offense put up those kinds of numbers on you, it’s not encouraging. The Bears just aren’t making enough plays, and one can’t help but think it all starts with the middle linebacker.
Now this is hardly to say Brian Urlacher is the sole reason for the decline of the defense. He certainly is not responsible for the defensive line's inability to put any type of pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Nor is he to blame for a starting secondary that is seemingly in competition with each other to see who can miss the most games per season. But every team needs a leader to feed off of, and it just doesn’t seem like Urlacher is doing the job right now.
One has to think that one reason for this is the series of injuries he has been dealing with. It was well documented he was plagued with an arthritic back condition last year, and while he claimed it wasn’t a serious injury, it looked to have an impact on his play.
Then there was his offseason neck surgery. Urlacher just isn’t the type of guy to use these injuries as an excuse for his deteriorating play, but Chicago fans have to be skeptical. In fact, it’s almost crucial for us to believe this is the cause of his decreased production, because if it’s not the cause, then that only leaves one explanation: He’s just not the same player he once was.
1 comments Last one added 8 months ago — Leave a Comment
Sam Wenk 8 months ago
Good topic Clay and I wanted to write something like this as well. I haven't seen "Mr. I need more money added to my nine year contract" all season long. He has been more of a decoy so far where just his name may force teams to fun away from him. Honestly though, I don't know if he has contributed at all this year in any facet of the defense.
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