Dec. 23, 2012; Glendale, AZ, USA: Chicago Bears offensive tackle J
Brian Urlacher recently made headlines in Chicago and the sports world by telling the media that the Chicago Bears defense practiced “diving” to slow down the opponent’s offense. Urlacher shared how the Bears defense practiced this tactic and that a coach on the sideline would imitate a diving motion when it wanted a defensive player to “dive” or lay down on the field, forcing that player to the sideline for one play while breaking the rhythm of the offense they were facing. One former player confirmed Urlacher’s story that this tactic was frequently used.
“Hell yeah man, we would have players taking a dive,” said former Bears OT J’Marcus Webb. “The coaches be like doing a diving signal from the sidelines and the players would listen.”
Webb continued, “It got to be real confusing sometimes, because I would like think I saw the signal when we were in on O and sometimes, well a lot of times, I would dive right after the ball was snapped and then Jay would get sacked or something and then he’d be pissed at Tice.”
When Webb was informed that this questionable tactic is one that would benefit the defense and not the offense, Webb elaborated, “There’s a lot going on in the game, I gotta remember the play, my assignment and then this diving thing…like I said, it was very confusing.”
Bears OC Aaron Kromer commented on Webb’s confirmation, ”J’Marcus isn’t one of our guys anymore, but I will say, he was often confused. You could say this is continuous confusion is one of the reasons why that is the case.”
Webb, now a member of the Minnesota Vikings, told said that “diving” is not in the Vikings playbook as far as he knows now. “I ain’t seen nothing about diving in my playbook. Jared Allen and Robison just whip me fair and square when we practicing. It is much more familiar to me and a lot less confusing”
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