Urlacher has visions of another Halas Trophy and trip to the Super Bowl in 2010.

The Chicago Tribune’s Vaughn McClure had a little chat with Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher as he and his teammates prepare to officially kick off training camp.  Urlacher touched on a wide variety of topics, but a couple of his quotes jumped off the screen:

On the favorites to get to the Super Bowl: “I’ve got to say us. In the AFC, you have to go with the Colts. I know the Saints are going to be tough again. Our division is the toughest in the league. The AFC East is tough, I know that. And we play those teams this season.”

OK, I get that you can’t really say that you have to be positive and confident, but calling the Bears the favorites to win the NFC?  Come on Brian!  If you want to say that the Bears will be better than people think or that they might surprise some people, I am 100% with you but you’ve got to keep it real.

Another thing that struck me was Urlacher’s reaction to the NFL’s concussion awareness and prevention activities:

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Free Agent wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh appeared on ESPN 1000′s Waddle and Silvy show on Thursday morning and chatted up his upcoming free agency on the morning show.  So the question that all Bears fans want answered:  Is he coming to Chicago?  Great question.  The answer, however, is not so simple.  Here is the Tribune headline for Vaughn McClure’s article:

Houshmandzadeh appears open to playing for Bears

and this headline from Brad Biggs’ Inside the Bears blog post:

Houshmandzadeh sounds off and it sounds like Bears aren’t a match

So which is it?  Both articles have an excerpt of the transcript from the interview. (more…)

Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher made his biggest hit of the season in blasting his critics, as reported by Vaughn McClure in the Chicago Tribune on December 31st.

“I’m tired of criticism that is unwarranted,” he said. “People who say stuff about me, they don’t know our defense. They don’t know football.

“Yes, I wish I would have made a lot more big plays. Obviously, everyone could say that on our defense. I wish I was around the ball more, but I wasn’t. Just the way things worked out this season.”

OK Brian, I get it.  I understand your frustration.  If I worked for a guy like Bob Babich, who handed me the weekly game plan written in crayon, I would be ticked too.  But the scheme the Bears employ did not cause you to get blocked like this.

That’s not a 300 pound lineman blocking you; it’s Maurice Jones-Drew, the 5’7″ 208 lb running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars who appears to have you blocked.  Maybe that’s the scheme.  Maybe it’s the fact that you’ve never been able to shed blockers and enjoyed your greatest success when Mark Hatley dropped 700 pounds of ass into the middle of the Defensive Line with Ted Washington and Keith Traylor to keep blockers tied up.  Maybe it’s the fact that your skills have diminished and you’ve lost a step.

It’s tough to realize that you’ve lost a step.  I came to grips with that as I nursed a hangover yesterday after drinking an amount on New Years Eve that wouldn’t have phased me ten years ago.  I’ve lost a step.  There, I said it.  Brian, it’s time for you to say it too.

BEAR DOWN!!!