Brian Urlacher Apparently Not Seeing Same Thing As Rest Of Us

Michael Silver of Yahoo! hung out with Brian Urlacher over the weekend, and he wrote about it. You should read the piece, because it’s an interesting, candid look at what Urlacher’s life is like during a frustrating season, one in which he essentially has no part in.

Also, there is this:

“Look, I love Jay, and I understand he’s a great player who can take us a long way, and I still have faith in him,” Urlacher said. “But I hate the way our identity has changed. We used to establish the run and wear teams down and try not to make mistakes, and we’d rely on our defense to keep us in the game and make big plays to put us in position to win. Kyle Orton might not be the flashiest quarterback, but the guy is a winner, and that formula worked for us. I hate to say it, but that’s the truth.”

Look, I’m not pointing this out to start some Urlacher vs. Cutler or Orton vs. Cutler war. I’m simply pointing this out because I’m not sure it makes much sense.

The team’s identity change — What is their identity now, by the way? Always playing from behind? — has little to do with Cutler behind center instead of Orton. It’s clear the Bears would still like to establish a run game (Lovie said they’d still be a Chicago Bears Football Team before the season started), but the offensive line is giving Forte nowhere to run. He hasn’t made any plays for himself either. And that defense that makes big plays and puts the team in position to win? They just gave up 576 yards to the Vikings, and have been run over by the likes of the Cardinals and Bengals this season. The run game and sound defense worked for the Bears — Urlacher is right. But the formula isn’t working because the Bears are dividing by zero this season, not because Orton is gone.

I’m sorry, but if Orton is still the quarterback of this team, he’s not going to make the run game or defense any better. These problems definitely still exist. As far as the passing game goes?

Sure, he’d likely have thrown less picks than Cutler this year. But does anyone really think any quarterback can succeed when he’s running and ducking for cover on every snap?

For what it’s worth, Urlacher clarified these comments to the Tribune today.

Posted at 9:29 am
on November 30th, 2009
Tags: Brian Urlacher, Chicago Bears, Football, Jay Cutler, Kyle Orton, NFL