Miami – So you think Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning is under a little bit of pressure? Who did he have to live up to in Colts lore, Jim Harbaugh?
No, if you want someone who has to bear the weight of an unyielding legacy, try Brian Urlacher, playing the same position as legends Bill George, Dick Butkus and Mike Singletary. But unlike Manning, the offspring of NFL royalty who sometimes has struggled with expectation, Urlacher, the Chicago Bears’ middle linebacker, has embraced it.
“I’ve never thought about it as pressure. It’s an honor to play here,” Urlacher said before Super Bowl XLI. “It’s a great tradition, and I’m happy to try and fill the shoes of the guys who played before me, but I never felt a burden.
“If you look at the tradition of the Bears, besides Walter Payton, you think of Dick Butkus and Mike Singletary. Our fans love defense and, luckily, I get to play defense in one of the best stadiums in football.”
In a sense, each of Chicago’s legendary defenders have not only excelled, but set the bar a bit higher for the next guy. George, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, made eight consecutive Pro Bowls from 1955-62. Three years later, Butkus came along and embodied raw intensity.
In the 1980s, while capable of delivering some bone-jarring pops, Singletary lent a bit more of a cerebral approach to the position. Today it seems the 6-foot-4, 258- pound Urlacher combines the best of all three. He has led the Bears in tackles six times in seven seasons, and this season he also broke up eight passes and had three interceptions.
In the cover-two defensive scheme used by Chicago, Urlacher, a former safety at New Mexico, has to be ready for not only the run, but to drop back into pass coverage – sometimes deep down the field. During the playoffs, Manning’s favorite target has been tight end Dallas Clark. In the AFC title game against New England, Clark had six catches for 137 yards, much of that coming in the middle of the field.
While the dual challenge of stopping the run and corralling Clark may seem daunting, the Bears say they have no doubt Urlacher is up for it. On a team that, for much of the season, had arguably the best, most feared defense in the NFL, teammates say they have no illusions about who resides at its center.
“People have talked about coming up with a name for our defense, but whatever it is, he’s got to be up front – Urlacher and then whatever you want to say,” Bears defensive end Alex Brown said. “It’s hard to say how good he is. What are there, 53 guys on a football team? So that means that when the defense gets together there are 25, 26 guys in the room.
“We’re in there watching film and he’ll do something out on the field, and 24 or 25 guys will just drop their jaws to the floor, going, ‘How’d he do that?”‘
While Urlacher was the 2005 NFL defensive player of the year, part of his offseason was spent doing something that surely would have made Butkus or Singletary cringe, briefly dating Paris Hilton. Perhaps someone told Urlacher such a move went against the middle linebacker code, because just as quickly as the brush with stunning vapidness began, it was over.
Besides, Urlacher never would play as big in Hollywood as he does in Chicago burbs such as Homewood-Flossmoor.
“I try to get out and do things, but I have to do it in a calm manner and try not to let people know where I’m going,” Urlacher said of his excursions around the city. “I just wear my hat everywhere I go. Sometimes, people don’t think I’m big enough to be me. They see me and think I’m a lot bigger on TV, so that works out for me sometimes.”
Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
