Urlacher – Bears Super Bowl Window Closing
In the opening comment from Bears captain and face of the franchise Brian Urlacher, he says what many including myself have been thinking for some time – the Bears Super Bowl window is closing.
With Urlacher, Briggs, Peppers and Tillman on the wrong side of 30, the time is now to get a Super Bowl. That window of opportunity doesn’t stay open forever and now is the time to go “all in” and get all of the right pieces to push across the finish line. Instead, Jerry Angelo and the Bears chose to go for retreads instead of fresh new tires for that ride to Indianapolis for Super Bowl XLVI. But let’s take a look at this from a different angle.
The reason the Bears are so long in the tooth on defense is because a) Jerry Angelo sucks at drafting and b) they traded away two first round picks to get Jay Cutler. In getting Cutler, I think the Bears are casting a new mold for the team to become an offesnsive-minded team. People like scoring; chicks dig the long ball.
Let’s face it, when the Bears went to Super Bowl XLI, they went in spite of Rex Grossman. They went because of Devin Hester and his ridiculous returns and Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs in their primes just straight ballin’. They went in part thanks to Mike Brown and Tommie Harris before they got broken.
With paper-thin depth in the back 7 on the defense, this might be the season when Jay Cutler and the offense step to the forefront and lead this team to wins. Rather than saying that the window is closing, let’s say that the pendulum is swinging. It’s swinging from a defense-centric, grind it out team to an offense-based team that will try to outscore the opponents rather than shut them down.
The league is set up to favor the offense and it’s time the Bears step into the 21st century and try to keep up with the Joneses. And Rodgers. And Breeses. And Bradys.
What do you think, is the Bears’ Super Bowl window closing? Is it already closed? Is the pendulum swinging from defense to offense and if that’s the case, do you think the Bears can be successful as an offense oriented team?