Many of you spend far more time than I analyzing the NFL Draft with countless mocks and prognostications. It’s never been my thing.

It is very much the thing of Scott Wright, the founder and lead man of NFL Draft Countdown. I will be recording a podcast with Wright Thursday evening and the pod will run here immediately after.

So what do I need? If you had the chance to ask Wright one question, what would it be? Breakdown of a player? Draft philosophy? Where the run of quarterbacks will begin?

Share your questions in the comments section below and I’ll cite the better ones during the interview.

Many of you spend far more time than I analyzing the NFL Draft with countless mocks and prognostications. It’s never been my thing.

It is very much the thing of Scott Wright, the founder and lead man of NFL Draft Countdown. I will be recording a podcast with Wright Thursday evening and the pod will run here immediately after.

So what do I need? If you had the chance to ask Wright one question, what would it be? Breakdown of a player? Draft philosophy? Where the run of quarterbacks will begin?

Share your questions in the comments section below and I’ll cite the better ones during the interview.

As a huge Chicago Bulls fan, I thoroughly enjoyed their recent game against the Miami Heat. It’s always must-see TV when your favorite team goes up against the league’s best, but the atmosphere around this game was even more intense because Miami entered the contest on a 27-game winning streak, the second longest in NBA history.

Chicago won an entertaining game 101-97, and I loved every second of it. But afterwards, I couldn’t help thinking about how my game-watching experience now is so different from what it was ten—or even five—years ago. I watched the game at home by myself (I know, I’m a loser), but I was not alone. Thanks to Twitter, Facebook, and other social media, I was able to share in the highs and lows of the game with thousands of other fans, many of whom I didn’t even know.

Ten years ago, I would have had to go to a sports bar for a similar experience (ignoring the fact that I was only 14). And I would have shared the moment with the somewhere between 10 and 20 people. Instead, I reveled in each highlight dunk, complained about each suspect foul, and cracked dozens of jokes at Miami’s expense along with fellow fans from around the globe.

This experience was not limited to simply this one game, although it was magnified by the significance of the contest. Similar ones happen for fans everywhere whenever their favorite team is playing, whether the platform is Twitter, ESPN, or another social media outlet. Being a fan today is not just about watching the games. More than it has ever been, fandom is about experiencing moments together with your fellow fans.

Well, maybe not more than it has ever been. Sports bars, tailgates, and game parties, which offer much of the same camaraderie (and arguably even a better version of it) have been a staple of fandom for years. Maybe it’s simply easier to be a part of these moments now—especially for those who live out of the media market of their favorite teams—since you don’t have to leave your own couch.

Alone among millions

Is this trend good or bad for sports fans? Much like the social media technology itself, I think it’s a little bit of both. It’s great to be able to experience these moments and events together, but it should not replace actual person-to-person contact. I’d rather watch a game with four or five buddies and stay off of the internet than sit by myself and be “hanging out” with other fans online. Unfortunately, the former option isn’t always possible, so the second one is a much better alternative to sitting alone and talking to no one.

The other issue is making sure that you don’t get so caught up in talking about the game that you actually miss out on the game. When I am really into a game, I find social media too distracting, as it’s easy to get wrapped up in debates and/or conversations and miss what’s actually going on. Thus, I turn my computer off (I’m still stuck in the Stone Age without a smartphone), or at least only look at it during commercials.

What does this all mean? What am I trying to say here? I’m not sure I have a grand point. I just think it’s cool that we can share in our fandom in real time during games, even if there’s nobody else there with us. That’s a privilege previous generations of fans didn’t have, and I want to take a moment to appreciate it. I also hope that we don’t gradually lose out on the old-school ways of experiencing sports together.

With Jason Campbell signing a rare (for this offseason) two-year deal to compete for the starting job in Cleveland, the Bears are now left without security at the most important position in all of sports.

While most fan attention is situated in the middle of the offensive line, my attention is here. To the best of my knowledge the franchise quarterback still has a history of concussions to pair with his penchant for holding the ball too long/refusing to throw it away. Yes, Phil Emery has added two terrific perimeter blockers in hopes of keeping #6 upright. Yes, Aaron Kromer will make the health of the QB his priority. Yes, Marc Trestman will institute a precision-based, timing route passing game that involves far less of the Martz/Tice “wait in the pocket and chuck it” approach. But even with all these changes on the offensive side of the ball, history tells us it is fair to believe Cutler will not play every down at quarterback for the Bears in 2013.

Where will the Bears turn? Might they be interested in a player like Colt McCoy? Will Carson Palmer’s desire to play for a contender lead him to accepting vet minimum (while collecting a ton from Oakland) to stand behind Cutler? Do the Bears believe McCown or Blanchard are good enough to hold down the fort should the moment arise? Would Emery use a pick in the first few rounds on a quarterback?

Guards are important, sure. But the absence of a top quality guard will not keep a football team from winning double-digit games and being in contention for the postseason. The 2012 Bears were a prime example of this. Backup quarterbacks are not important until they’re called upon. The absence of quality one can send a season plummeting into the seventh dimension of Satan’s layer. For illustration of this, the 2011 Bears are the poster boys.

With Jason Campbell signing a rare (for this offseason) two-year deal to compete for the starting job in Cleveland, the Bears are now left without security at the most important position in all of sports.

While most fan attention is situated in the middle of the offensive line, my attention is here. To the best of my knowledge the franchise quarterback still has a history of concussions to pair with his penchant for holding the ball too long/refusing to throw it away. Yes, Phil Emery has added two terrific perimeter blockers in hopes of keeping #6 upright. Yes, Aaron Kromer will make the health of the QB his priority. Yes, Marc Trestman will institute a precision-based, timing route passing game that involves far less of the Martz/Tice “wait in the pocket and chuck it” approach. But even with all these changes on the offensive side of the ball, history tells us it is fair to believe Cutler will not play every down at quarterback for the Bears in 2013.

Where will the Bears turn? Might they be interested in a player like Colt McCoy? Will Carson Palmer’s desire to play for a contender lead him to accepting vet minimum (while collecting a ton from Oakland) to stand behind Cutler? Do the Bears believe McCown or Blanchard are good enough to hold down the fort should the moment arise? Would Emery use a pick in the first few rounds on a quarterback?

Guards are important, sure. But the absence of a top quality guard will not keep a football team from winning double-digit games and being in contention for the postseason. The 2012 Bears were a prime example of this. Backup quarterbacks are not important until they’re called upon. The absence of quality one can send a season plummeting into the seventh dimension of Satan’s layer. For illustration of this, the 2011 Bears are the poster boys.

Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson had a historic 2012 season, setting a new NFL record with 1,964 receiving yards. Perhaps his most impressive feat is that he did this despite going against Richard Sherman and Charles Tillman, the two cornerbacks who made the All-Pro team, in three of his 16 games. In other words, Johnson (or “Megatron,” as he has been dubbed), played three games against the two best cornerbacks in the NFL and still shattered the record for most receiving yards in a season.

How well did Johnson perform in those three games? The answers might surprise you. Let’s take a closer look at the per-game numbers.

It’s apparent that Johnson did not fare very well against top-flight cornerbacks. His completion percentage was significantly lower than either Tillman or Sherman gave up for the year (47.1% and 63.3%, respectively, per ProFootballFocus); the same was true for his yards per target against both Sherman and Tillman (7.3 and 5.9, respectively).

ProFootballFocus assigns grades for players for each individual game based on how well they perform relative to average. In the three games against Tillman and Sherman, Johnson posted three negative scores that together added up to -2.6. By contrast, his other 13 games featured 11 positive scores for a cumulative total of 28.9.

What does this mean for Johnson and the Lions?

Megatron destroys most opponents

Take a second look at those numbers Johnson posted in those other 13 games. He was stellar, averaging over 10 yards per target and 140 yards per game. Sure, some of it was against lesser opponents with terrible pass defenses (the Jacksonvilles and Tennessees of the NFL), but there were some other solid pass defenses in there too: Arizona, San Francisco, Minnesota, and St. Louis jump immediately to mind. The fact that Johnson could still break the previous yardage by over 100 yards record despite having these three poor games speaks volumes to just how incredible he was in the other thirteen.

Credit Tillman and Sherman

The success that these two cornerbacks had against such a dominant receiver speaks volumes to just how great they were last year, especially since on multiple occasions they were left to cover Johnson alone. This is also a testament to the rest of the Chicago and Seattle secondaries, especially the safeties, often helped double-team Johnson. Voters don’t always get their selections for the All-Pro teams right, but in this case they were 100 percent correct in saying that these two were indeed the best cornerbacks in football last year.

Pressing needs

If they want to become a winning team again, the Lions need other passing options to emerge as reliable targets.

Even though Johnson was unable to make plays against Chicago and Seattle, quarterback Matthew Stafford still threw his way an average of 11 times in those games. Admittedly, that was down slightly from the 13.3 targets Johnson averaged in the other 13 games, and it was also a slightly smaller percentage of total teams targets (24.1% versus 27.7% on the season); but that is still too many targets for a player  struggling to produce.

Against Seattle, Titus Young was able to take the pressure off Johnson, converting his nine targets into nine receptions, 100 yards, and two touchdowns. In the two games against Chicago, nobody was stepped up. Not coincidentally, the Lions beat Seattle and lost twice to Chicago.

Detroit has already made one move to improve their passing game this offseason, signing running back Reggie Bush, a pass-catching specialist out of the backfield. They also will get receivers Nate Burleson and Ryan Broyles back healthy. The Lions need them to take advantage of favorable coverage due to teams blanketing Johnson, which will in turn also help reduce the coverage on Johnson and free him to make more big plays.

Conclusion

Calvin Johnson is an incredible player, one who has clearly established himself as the best wide receiver in the NFL over the last two seasons. But his struggles against top-shelf secondaries show that he is not invincible, and the onus is now on Detroit to surround him with the necessary talent that will allow him to dominate against even the best competition.

It didn’t take Phil Emery a week. Less than a week after he and the whole of the Chicago Bears organization saluted and celebrated the career of Brian Urlacher in a lengthy press release, the GM has reloaded the club’s trademark strength and added a pair of veteran linebackers in free agency.

DJ Williams will “replace” Urlacher in the middle of the defense. Williams, coming off a season where PEDs and team suspension kept him off the field for more than half the year, possesses tremendous athleticism and speed. As we enter what will hopefully be the twilight of the read-option in the NFL, Williams’ ability to go sideline-to-sideline will be pivotal in limiting the kind of success Russell Wilson had the end of Bears v Seahawks in December. (I’m still haunted by that half hour. It seemed to be three days long.) Even if the Bears brought Urlacher back into the fray in 2013 there was no way they could rely on his knees to hold up against this new generation of speedy quarterback.

Can Williams keep his head on straight? That is the bigger question.

James Anderson missed time in 2012, as well, but his absence was due to injury not the intake of enhancement drugs. From Brad Biggs:

Anderson, 29, finished sixth in the NFL in tackles in 2011 with 145 and was a cap casualty in Carolina earlier this month, two years after he signed a five-year, $22 million contract with $8.5 million guaranteed. He set a Panthers record with 20 tackles in a game against the Giants last season and holds the team record with 94 games played at linebacker. Of his 53 starts, 44 came on the strong side.

“I am just reaching my peak right now,” Anderson said. “I am definitely still in my prime. This is the best I have felt at this point in the offseason in years. I feel like I am on my way up.”

Anderson, 6-foot-2, 235 pounds, was hampered by shoulder and back injuries last year and missed the final four games.

“I had a chance to have some time off and all is well, all is healed up,” he said. “I had some tightness and some other issues with the lower back, but it was nothing that is going to be an issue going forward. I feel great.”

Anderson will replace Nick Roach on the strong side.

These two signings only slightly alter Emery’s approach to the position in the draft, however. Both Williams and Anderson are one-year rentals in the middle of the defense and Emery must get the Bears younger at the position. What the signings afford him is the ability to attack the LB position at his own discretion. He does not need to draft a starter in 2013. He would like to draft one for 2014.

It’s never easy to say goodbye.

Unfortunately, Chicago Bears fans find themselves having to do exactly that with Brian Urlacher. After two months of hoping he would be back with my beloved Bears for another year or two before riding gracefully off into the sunset, news broke yesterday that this will not happen. Chicago wanted Urlacher back, and Urlacher wanted to be back with Chicago, but the two sides split over a money difference.

Living legend

Brian Urlacher’s numbers speak for themselves. In 13 years with the Bears, he played in 182 games, amassing 1,353 tackles, 41.5 sacks, 12 forced fumbles, 16 fumble recoveries, 22 interceptions, and five defensive touchdowns. He was the 2000 Defensive Rookie of the Year, was named to eight Pro Bowls, was a first-team All-Pro four times, and won the 2005 Defensive Player of the Year award.

But Urlacher’s impact on fans like me far transcends the numbers.

He has been with the Bears since 2000, when I was 11 years old. To me—and many others—Brian Urlacher is the Bears. I literally cannot remember a time when Urlacher was not a member of my favorite football team. I grew up living in Southern California and South Florida in the days before it was easy to follow your team from afar (thank you, internet!), and was lucky if I got to watch the Bears play two or three times a year. I also didn’t start following football seriously until around 2003 or so, when Urlacher was already established as the face of the franchise.

I moved to Chicago in 2006, right when Urlacher was in his prime and leading one of the NFL’s best defenses on a Super Bowl-bound team. I will never forget him matching Reggie Bush stride for stride down the length of the field in the 2006 NFC Championship Game, or intercepting hated rival Brett Favre and returning the ball 85 yards for a touchdown in a 2007 rout of the Green Bay Packers. These memories and many more will be with me forever, and I am sure the same is true for many other Bears fans.

Mixed emotions

I’m still trying to process the idea that Brian Urlacher will not be a Bear.

For over a decade now, the franchise has been defined by their dominant defense — with Urlacher at the helm — carrying a marginal (at best) offense. With Urlacher gone and moves being made to improve the offense, that identity is changing in a hurry. Objectively, I can look at Chicago’s recent track record and see that might be a good thing, but the fan in me is finding it hard to say goodbye to what I have known and loved for so long.

My greatest fear is that Urlacher ends up pulling an Olin Kreutz and settles for less money to go play elsewhere for a year (or part of a year in Kreutz’s case) before accepting the inevitable and retiring. It would feel wrong to see Urlacher in any uniform other than Chicago’s. I cannot stand the thought of rooting against Urlacher in a football game.  Although this is extremely selfish of me, I truly hope Urlacher is unable to find a team willing to pay him what he wants this year. I want nothing more than for him to retire as a lifelong Bear, joining other Chicago greats like Walter Payton, Dick Butkus, and many others.

The first reaction of many fans will be anger directed at the Bears, especially after Urlacher dismissed Chicago’s offer of one year at $2 million as “a slap in the face.” Others will surely resent Urlacher for refusing to play for less than $3 million per year. Personally, I hold no ill will toward either party. They both have to do what they think is best for them, and in this case that means going in different directions.

Saying goodbye

Even as I struggle to bid my fond farewell, I can think back on Brian Urlacher’s career in Chicago and take solace in one thing. I had the privilege of watching an all-time great player, the second-best middle linebacker of his generation, play for my favorite team for 13 years. During that time, he provided consistently excellent play on the field without creating any problems off of it. I can’t ask for any more than that.

Thanks for the memories, Brian.

Tomorrow morning, I’ll wake up. I’ll make breakfast – eggs, bacon, cheese, some bread – and drink a nice pot of iced coffee. I will then turn my television to NFL AM, a show I despise, because the topic of conversation will most certainly be one of pertinence to myself and those who read this site daily. The topic will be Brian Urlacher.

It all ended with a press release and a Twitter announcement from Larry Mayer and the Bears organization. At 5:30 PM on a random Wednesday in March Urlacher’s tenure with the team he’d come to represent for the past decade ended. It was followed by a multitude of quotes from GM Phil Emery and George McCaskey. Phrases like “humble superstar” and “all-time great” and “Hall of Fame” were everywhere.The Bears were not showing Urlacher the door. They were sprinkling rose petals on the red carpet leading from Urlacher’s career to the retirement sidewalk.

(If you ask me, the quotes were too prepared and too ready. This decision had been made far sooner than today.)

Brian Urlacher was more than the Bears middle linebacker. He was the heart and soul of their locker and the hero of their fans. He was the link to a brilliant tradition at the franchise’s most storied position. Lach (pronounced Lack with an almost quintessential beauty when uttered through the sparked tones of a Chicago accent) owned this city, obvious to anyone attempting to count the #54 jerseys on  the sixty-one thousand plus gathered on the lakefront each fall. Two Tweets I received immediately after the news broke accurately sum up the response of a majority of fans.

@Pankster198: That is BS!!! Cant believe it!!

@sallakm: I’m at a lost for words so wrong wow

Grammar and spelling aside, those two responses are what was being shouted at dinner tables across the Chicagoland area as news of this divorce became public. There will be no discussion of a chronically-injured knee, salary cap restrictions or a devaluation of the middle linebacker position in the modern NFL. There will a Chicago Bears team without Brian Urlacher for the first time in 13 years and that will be enough to send out for another twelve-pack of Old Style.

Whenever I’m asked about Urlacher, I tend to lean on his catching Michael Vick from behind when discussing his athleticism. It was one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen on a playing field. But my favorite Urlacher moments?

There’s this. 2001. The first of back-to-back game winning INT touchdowns for Mike Brown. Urlacher caused Terrell Owens to burrow a hole in the ground to avoid a hit.

There’s this. Self-explanatory.

There is, of course, 2006. My favorite plays? His interception of Chad Pennington in the end zone and strip of Edge James during the “who we thought they were” game.

Brian Urlacher’s tenure in Chicago will be celebrated forever. He is one of the best players to ever don the navy blue and orange. But an NFL player’s career can end overnight. It sure feels like Urlacher’s just did.

Marc Trestman, at the NFL owners meetings, told the Chicago media that Devin Hester will be working exclusively with special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis. The greatest return man in the history of the league is returning his attention and energy to the action that will one day land him in Canton.

I have written countless columns about the ludicrousness of the Devin Hester on Offense Experiment. Any human being with eyes could tell Hester was never comfortable. He never knew where to line up. He ran the wrong route half the time. He dropped passes. Moving Hester to offense was the stubborn objective of GM Jerry Angelo and head coach Lovie Smith – two men who had failed to draft (the former) and develop (the latter) offensive talent for a generation of Bears football. That is over now.

Hester should not take this as a demotion. This is where he belongs. And now he can begin to demolish every record in the return man book.