Evaluating Brian Urlacher to date

We have one of these threads for one of the new guys (Shea Mac), but I thought I would start one about one of the old guys. While one has not yet gained his full NFL stride, the other may be losing his. However, the REAL reason for this post was spawned in my mind by the thread started by GermansbombedPH regarding our cap position of next year. Obviously the disposition of Brian Urlacher will make a substantial difference in that space, so, I pose the following question for discussion:

Do you think we should re-sign Brian Urlacher for a substantial sum ($6 mil or over), after this season is over, and why/why not?

Now, before everyone starts answering, let me throw out one simple rule for this thread:

1. This guy is a Chicago Bears ICON and we are all Bear fans, so we obviously all have a lot of respect for the man. But those feelings vary significantly from person to person, so NO DISSING OTHERS WHO RESPOND FOR THEIR OPINIONS. No one is more a less a fan for their opinions on this because it is a hard question.


Personally, I don't think Brian is playing at NEAR the level he has in the past, and one could argue that his level of play is no better than average by current NFL standards. Honestly, for an old Bear fan like me, this reminds me so much of Butkus' last couple of years, and even the great Walter Payton, whose demise is even fresher in my mind. I remember Walter's last year and it was sad to see the once great one succumbing to his age (as we all do). Frankly, it breaks your heart if you have a soft spot for this sort of thing like myself. So I guess we have to consider the value of his leadership and knowledge of this defense when considering his value, but also, his value to us personally to finish out as a Bear. Personally, I think this Defensive unit is playing out their ass out of respect for the man to try and get him (and themselves while they are at it) a ring before he calls it quits. Everyone around him seems to have taken a step up to cover for his lost step or two.

So...what do you guys think?

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Originally Posted by 4DaBERS

Personally, I don't think Brian is playing at NEAR the level he has in the past, and one could argue that his level of play is no better than average by current NFL standards. Honestly, for an old Bear fan like me, this reminds me so much of Butkus' last couple of years, and even the great Walter Payton, whose demise is even fresher in my mind. I remember Walter's last year and it was sad to see the once great one succumbing to his age (as we all do). Frankly, it breaks your heart if you have a soft spot for this sort of thing like myself. So I guess we have to consider the value of his leadership and knowledge of this defense when considering his value, but also, his value to us personally to finish out as a Bear. Personally, I think this Defensive unit is playing out their ass out of respect for the man to try and get him (and themselves while they are at it) a ring before he calls it quits. Everyone around him seems to have taken a step up to cover for his lost step or two.

So...what do you guys think?

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Truly a difficult issue. There are so many moving parts to this. What positions are they going to go for in the draft? Is OL still their priority? If so, then Urlacher becomes more important because you can't pick a high OL and a high LB. You only really have one real impact pick at the bottom of the first.

Urlacher out there on the field (as long as everyone else performs like they are performing - not probable for another whole year), is still very important. He sees the formations and gets everyone to be where they need to be, so he is not hurting them right now. Just maybe not helping them as much as he used to.

IF they did bring in someone else, I would still sign Urlacher (not for a top dollar deal, but decent money to show his worth), and then would publicly say that we are trying to extend Brians career by giving him less time on the field and rotating in the new guy. Not sure Brian would play under those conditions, but it would be a good way to limit wear on him, have the new guy learn under him and still have him available as field general.

At the end of the season, evaluate Urlacher's play. Brian seems to be a guy who accepts reality. If he can't play the game at a high level anymore then let him retire a Bear. If he CAN play at a high enough level to help us win, then sign him to a short-term contract - to help give us an opportunity to get a rock-solid MLB drafted & groomed to replace him.

At this point, let's just watch and see if he can continue to come back from the injury. Maybe this is as good as it's going to get, or perhaps he can regain some more of his pre-injury capability. Before that injury, Urlacher was playing great football.

Right now his worth as a leader to the Chicago Bears is more important then his play. Players come and go, but a true leader is way too damn hard to find. His plays might go way down but his leadership will aways be high.

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Originally Posted by JJ-30

Right now his worth as a leader to the Chicago Bears is more important then his play. Players come and go, but a true leader is way too damn hard to find. His plays might go way down but his leadership will aways be high.

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but wouldn't you rather have someone who was able to play well instead of just a figure head?

I think it is worth keeping Urlacher, up to the point where the level of play becomes below average.

Brian will never be "average", but yes I think it is worth keeping him around even as a figure head. Perhaps I have Ray Lewis-itish (who I could see even coming back), I am not a rational person when it comes to football heroes.

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Originally Posted by The Benjamin

but wouldn't you rather have someone who was able to play well instead of just a figure head?

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But he's much more than just a figurehead. He's the guy calling the plays on the field, reading the O, reacting and lining up the rest of the D. In those circumstances, I'm willing to suffer lesser physical play from him due to the knee injury. However, if he doesn't recover from the injury, and his play continues to decline with the added age factor, then it will be time to replace him. And that may be sooner rather than later, unfortunately. His replacement should have been on board this year, but we had way too many other needs. We still may next year if our O-line doesn't work better. He needs to start having less reps on the field to reduce the wear and tear and to keep him fresh.

I don't know if this is just pissing into the wind or not. But I will forever blame Lovie Smith for keeping him in that game against the Vikings. If he didn't have that knee injury he would be able to play at the level he was at last year (very high level) until he is about 37 imho. That injury was so unnecessary and stupid.

Urlacher has yet to be exposed this season, I see no reason to not resign him. Knowledge like he has is invaluable, as long as L. Boogie is playing like he is we are just fine. I say sign him barring any injuries, you can't get anyone better.

One thing is certain though, it was a huge mistake to not find him a protege about 3 years ago, let him pass off his knowledge to someone. Oh well too late now

I only remember noticing Urlacher twice this year (which is odd, cause he's always been the one to look for), once when he was putting some serious pressure on a QB, and the other, when he made a horribly unathletic attempt to tackle in the Panthers game.

Im going to go on pure analysis and not let my fan hood of BU get in the way here

The guy calls the right defense when he is out there and is directing things better then ever. He also is seeing the plays right cause he is always around where the action is. Where we can tell he is not the real Url is that he isnt making the play cause he is either slow or cant cut anymore with offensive players. We have plenty of examples of where he looks slow this season. Getting juked by Tolbert last week just shows how much agilility he has lost from one knee injury that just isnt going away