Chicago Bears Defense and Urlacher Look Great in Win over Colts & More NFC News

Nothing to see here, move along.

All the hand wringing we (OK, I) did last week about Brian Urlacher ended up being so much ash after he torched them on Sunday.

Sure, he only had two tackles, and yeah, as ESPN Chicago's Jeff Dickerson points out, they pulled him in the third quarter.

But we know that Urlacher's value isn't only what appears on the stat sheet. He showed his usual savvy ability as he helped shift the defense into position to give Colts rookie quarterback Andrew Luck all sorts of hell.

As for pulling him, that's just smart football folks. On a week with a short turnaround and a huge early game against division rival Green Bay, you rest Urlacher. How bad would it have been to have him in and get him hurt when he shouldn't have been on the field?

Sure, the knee will be an issue most of the season. However, Urlacher looks pretty good, and with careful managing, the Bears should have their defensive lynchpin all season long.

Meanwhile, at the NFC North Halls of Justice...

Chicago Bears

Melissa Isaacson of ESPNChicago writes that while his numbers weren't eye-popping, Matt Forte had a big impact on Sunday.

However, the Sun-Times' Joe Cowley reports that Forte doesn't seem too pleased to get yanked at the goal line.

Detroit Lions

Anwar Richardson at MLive.com says that on Sunday we got a glimpse at some of what could make Ndamukong Suh a very dominant player.

Over at the Detroit News, Bob Wojnowski talks about the uneven game for Matt Stafford.

The Free Press' Dave Birkett talks about another player who struggled and how ultimately, Kevin Smith redeemed himself to win the game.

Green Bay Packers

At CheeseheadTV, Max Ginsberg covers the fallout of the loss to the 49ers.

The Journal-Sentinel's Bob McGinn says the Packers just couldn't handle the 49ers' physicality.

Also at the Sentinel, Mike Hunt says that while fan may complain about the refs, the players know they were the ones who lost the game, not the officials.

Minnesota Vikings

The Star Tribune's Jim Souhan says that from now on, nobody gets to doubt Adrian Peterson.

ESPN 1500's Tom Pelissero says this game was not the win the Vikings were looking for.

On the other hand, there is no column for pretty win, just one for win says Christopher Gates of the Daily Norseman.

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