I’ve thought something had gone fishing from Brian Urlacher’s game since his early, dominant days at middle linebacker.  The days when his being called overrated were just the jealous exclamations of a league that hadn’t seen a combination of his athletic ability and skin color.  Since those days his game has taken a dip, mostly due to injury, and he’s allowed himself to be the punching bag of media, fans and everybody who thinks that it’s Butkus or bust at the position in Chicago.

“Let me ask you a question: ‘How many championships did Gale Sayers win?”’ Urlacher told the Tribune. “How many playoff games did he win when he played? None. None. None.
“Does it bother me? There are enough people throwing daggers at us right now, why does one of our ex-players have to jump in? There are enough experts talking (crap) about us, so why does a Bear, an all-time great, have to jump in? I just don’t like that.”
“… Does (Sayers) know how to win football games? Does he? No. How are you going to criticize someone else when you haven’t done it yourself? He’s one of our own, so that’s why it’s so frustrating.”

There are some who’ll argue these are just words.  And maybe that’s true.  But they are words from an unlikely source.  Urlacher has never been the vocal leader of this organization, leaving those duties to Mike Brown, Thomas Jones and Olin Kreutz through the years.  Maybe his time has come.