Chicago Bears' Urlacher Will Never Be Fully Healthy and Other NFC North News

This weekend, Brian Urlacher said his knee will never be the same, according to Jeff Dickerson of ESPNChicago, but he plans on playing Sunday.

I've said this before, but it bears (no pun intended) repeating—if he isn't 100-percent healed, do NOT let him play.

It's really very simple for the team. They need him late in the season. His knee may never be the same again, but it could be worse if he plays this Sunday and isn't healthy or ready to go.

Of course, Urlacher wants to go—he's in a contract year. However it won't help the team late in the season to lose him, and it won't really help him make another good contract if he comes back and blows his knee the rest of the way out.

Before this mishandling—and make no mistake, it has been mishandled—of his knee ended with him having late preseason surgery, I felt that Urlacher could have maybe two more seasons in him.

If he isn't careful with his knee, though, he might not even have two games left.

The Bears need to take a firm hand with him and make sure he's ready to go during the last push to the playoffs.

Chicago Bears

Dan Pompei of the Tribune points out that with Ulracher's issues, it's nice for the team to have Lance Briggs locked up.

Finally, the Sun-Times Sean Jensen reports that re-signed Amobi Akoye is a bit upset with Bucs coach Greg Schiano.

B/R's Will Grant grades out the entire Bears final roster.

Detroit Lions

MLive.com's Justin Rogers says that Jim Schwartz used to work under Jeff Fisher, the Rams new head coach.

B/R's Matt Bowen tells you why Matt Stafford will win the MVP this year.

At the Free Press, James Jahnke and Rob Dzwonkowski write that a documentary on the Lions, their fans and the 2012 season is being made.

Green Bay Packers

You have to check out CheeseheadTV's Zach Kruse's breakdown on how Jarrett Boykin made the Packers' final roster.

B/R's Aaron Nagler has a great interview with Packers' linebacker Clay Matthews at The Go Route.

Greg Jennings says this could be the last year for him in Green Bay, according to Tom Silverstein.

Minnesota Vikings

Over at the Daily Norseman, Chris Gates says that Adrian Peterson will be limited, if he sees much time at all.

Arif Hasan has a nice piece here at B/R about the Vikings' eight-man practice squad.

Judd Zulgad gives a little love to the bubble guys who made the roster Friday at 1500 ESPN.

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