Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, reacting to the firing of Bears coach Lovie Smith, said he will not play for any other coach -- at least until the Bears hire a new one.
''I feel like I'm a Bear no matter what happens. I want to be here,'' Urlacher said in an interview on ESPN 1000's ''Silvy & Waddle Show'' on Monday afternoon. ''We're all mad right now. We just lost our head coach. We're all mad and we're going to say things we don't mean. I still don't want to play for any other coach. And I'll keep saying that until it happens, I guess.''
Urlacher, who has been with the Bears since he was drafted ninth overall in 2000, said he felt the same way when coach Dick Jauron and defensive coordinator Greg Blache were fired after the 2003 season. But he got over it. And he sounded pretty sure he will this time, too
''It happened so fast,'' Urlacher said. ''We're all emotional about it. I've seen Lovie every day for the last nine years. It's hard to picture not being around him every day. [But it's] just like with coach Blache and coach Jauron. I was pissed off when they let them go. I was surprised. I was mad. I'm sure those emotions will calm down. [But] after the game, it's emotional and hard to handle.''
Urlacher is a free agent after this season. But he said he would not close the door on returning, even under a new head coach.
''I've got some thinking to do,'' he said.''I'm a free agent. I want to keep playing football, I know that much. And I think once I'm healthy I can still do that at a pretty high level.''
Urlacher started slowly this season after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery during training camp and missed the final four games of the regular season with a knee injury.
''It was one of my most frustrating seasons,'' he said. ''Dealing with this fricking knee was frustrating. The thing that hurt me was not having the offseason. I didn't get healthy until training camp. I aggravated it in training camp. But once I got into playing shape and I was healthy, I think I played decent. Some games I could have played better. But until the hamstring I was getting better.''
Though he said he knows he still wants to play, Urlacher also said retirement after 13 seasons in the NFL is a possibility.
''I'm not sure yet,'' he said. ''I want to see what's out there. I don't want to make any rash decisions right now. We've got a long offseason ahead of us. I want to take time to relax. I'm in no hurry to make decisions now.''
I'm all for the Bears giving Brian Urlacher a couple more seasons to play. Urlacher is a Bear, he's gotta a couple more seasons left in the tank much like Ray Lewis did a couple seasons back when he was at the point in his career that Urlacher is right now.
The key is this, don't change Chicago's defensive scheme, if they switch to a 3-4 they're 2-3 drafts from being a contender, Chicao simply doesn't have the personnel to run this scheme, keep the current scheme on defense, and the Bears can win now. Heck, I'd keep Rod Marinelli on as defensive coordinator, he's done a heck of a job. The defense was never the problem, 4 Pro Bowlers on defense proves it, a 5th ranked defense proves it. If the defense wore down as the season went on it was because the offense couldn't sustain drives and kept the D on the field there by wearing them down.
Also, if the defense is old, Urlacher, Briggs, Tillman, and Peppers, they do have plenty of young personnel in Jennings, Melton, Paea, Wootton, Wright, Conte, and Shea to keep going, Keep Brian Urlacher and Rod Marinelli, fix offense (line) and offensive play calling, just an opinion GO BEARS!!
Bye bye Brian! You were one of my favorite Bears. The more you talked the less I liked you and now it is time for you to go.
yeah that's why you got rid of Lovie, so you could still run his defense. Are you a complete idiot? First Tillman will be fine in most defenses it does not matter much to him what the front 7 looks like because he is in the secondary. Melton, Briggs, and Peppers are all ideal trade bait. You don't want McClellin in a different defense? He sucks as a 4-3 defensive end. His ideal position is 3-4 LB. Wright and Jennings are in the secondary fool, 4-3 3-4 means nothing to them.
Marinelli is Lovie's best friend him and Babich and you think those guys are sticking around. Lovie is going to get a job and they are going to be with him and you can go root for that team.
Dude you opinion is perfect. Marinelli needs to stay and I hope any new head coach sees that. Play-calling was ridiculous and if we even had a league standard O-Line we'd have 14 wins.
Seems like Kevin does not know how Lovies bend don't break philosophy works. Kevin Lovie's defense leaves it self on the field, that's why it's called bend don't break. It also has a tendency to leave the offense sitting because they don't three and out very often.
How many good offenses did Lovie's vaunted D play this year? The 49ers. How many great QB's did he face this year? Rodgers. Packers had a good but not great offense this year, Seattle has a good offense at home. But as for elite offenses, they didn't see Jack. And when they came across a good offense it beat them, in the case of the 49ers, it destroyed them. Yeah that's some defense as long as you play the Titans, Cards, Rams, and Jags.
Good for Brian for not acting like Hester. Oh and he can play in a 3-4 as well. In fact it would benifit him as one ILB plays the run and the other plays the pass. Way to bring up Ray Lewis who is in his third defensive schem and played in a 3-4 and a 4-3. Oh wait he actually ruins your argument. "NOOOOOOOOOO, NOT CHANGGGGEEEEE!" Is change to scary?
To those that think the scheme doesn't matter to the secondary, you don't know what you are talking about. The front four create pressure on the QB. Elite corners can stay with the WRs for extended periods. Lesser corners get exposed when the QB has time. If you have noticed with the Bears cover 2, the corners usually hit the WR coming off the snap and release them to the safeties...you know, a zone defense. Although I love him, what's Tillman going to do in a 3-4 scheme? He's been a cover 2 corner for the last 9 years. If he can adapt, great. But I doubt it.
The Bears need some class and excitement to their coaching job. John Gruden would be a excellent choice. Denver Bronco's Offensive coach who was great with the Manning's would bring a explosive offense to the Bears. As for Brian Urlacher he looks slow now but one important thing Cutler can't keep running for his life with that terrible offensive line. Something has to be done.
I honestly believe Urlacher would do well to retire.He simply does not have the physical power to perform as he did in the past. He shouild get out now while he can still walk. If he comes back, I suspect he will either sit on the bench injured or sit on the bench because a better player is in his place on the field.As for defensive schemes, I think the three/four makes more sense.Blitzing linebackers can pressure the quarterback and in effect create a four/three scheme after building up momentum.
In order to move to a 3-4 defense the bears are missing a very important piece and one that is hard to come by in the NFL. A beast of a NT, ala Casey Hampton in PIT, Vince Wilfork in NE or BJ Raji in GB all pro bowl NTs. If you don't have that, the 3-4 becomes susceptible to inside runs as you then have 300+ lbs O-linemen on 250 lbs LBs. You need someone to swallow those O-linemen.
I would also challenge anyone to prove that a 3-4 is better than a 4-3...GB runs it well enough, but the Bears D is actually better than GB's(5th rank vs 11th)...what keeps GB winning is their offense. And offense has been the downfall of the Bears the entire tenure of Lovie. Of the top 10 defenses, 5 are 3-4 and 5 are 4-3 so no defensive scheme doesn't matter as much as execution.