In case you’ve missed it, NFL.com is filling lockout space by ranking the Top 100 players. Actually, the list was determined by the players, so I suppose it means a little more with the selection coming from their peers. The Chicago Bears’ Brian Urlacher was ranked #49 on the list, the second of four Chicago Bears to make the list. Fellow linebacker Lance Briggs was ranked #92 a few weeks back.
In case you haven’t seen it, give the video clip of Lovie Smith presenting Urlacher as #49 a spin by clicking here. It’s pretty amazing that ‘Lach is still getting it done after all of these years.
You don’t have to look any further than the 2009 season when the Bears defense completely fell apart to see Urlacher’s value to this team and his greatness. I would argue that he deserves a higher ranking, but I’ll wait for the full list to come out before I try to appropriately rank him.
I would argue that Urlacher ranks second behind only Dick Butkus on the Bears’ list of all-time great linebackers. Sorry to all you Mike Singletary fans, but Urlacher has size and speed that Singletary could only dream of. Can you imagine Urlacher in Buddy Ryan’s 46-defense instead of backpeddling 15-20 yards back at the snap of the ball more often than not like he does in Lovie’s Cover-2 defense?
Interestingly, Sports Illustrated’s Peter King is doing his own list and Urlacher ranks an identical #49 on King’s list, joining Jay Cutler, who is ranked at #85.