Brian Urlacher on the Bears’ Biggest Obstacles to a Super Bowl Title

Rich wanted Brian Urlacher to picture it: the Bears winning a Super Bowl for the first time in 40-plus years, with a parade down Michigan Avenue. Urlacher's answer was not what Rich expected.

"I want to be away as far as I could actually from it," Urlacher said. "I didn't win it. I'm going to watch it, but I didn't win it."

Rich set it up with his own experience. A New Yorker, he saw the Knicks win for the first time in 50-something years, and it really hit him. He noted the Brewers had just won it all, their first World Series trip since '82. And while Chicago has its Jordan and its Bulls, everyone knows "what time it is in the city of Chicago." Urlacher finished the thought: "It's a Bears city."

Urlacher can imagine the scene even if he plans to keep his distance. It would be February and cold, "but people don't care in Chicago. They love the Bears." He recalled how the city lost its mind for the NFC Championship Game against the Saints and again against the Packers in 2010, "and we didn't even win in 2010, but they were so excited." Chicago, he said, is hungry for a team to do what this one is doing.

He knows the division is tough, but he keeps coming back to the quarterback. "He's playing the best in that division right now," Urlacher said. "I think they have a leg up on other teams." And he believes the Bears are built to do it "on both sides of the football."

Rich noted the Bears just beat Seattle in all three phases, then asked which NFC team concerns Urlacher most. "The Niners are still really good, right? And when they're healthy especially, they're a really good football team."

Rich asked about Fred Warner, and Urlacher lit up. "What a badass he is, Rich," he said, apologizing for the language. He described Warner as 6-foot-4 and 245 pounds who "runs as fast as he wants to," always in the right place in the passing game and the running game, coming downhill and causing fumbles. "Linebacker wise, that dude gets to the football."

In the AFC, it's the Bills. "Josh Allen. I mean, that dude is a beast as well," Urlacher said. Kansas City is always great with Patrick, he added, but with Lamar out, Baltimore doesn't concern him as much. Back in the NFC, he also worries about Detroit and Green Bay, and Minnesota for now, though he thinks the Vikings will fall off later. "If we can win our division, that's a big leg up right there because that's a tough division."

Rich then asked about a familiar face. Could Urlacher believe the quarterback he chased late in his career has a shot to take the Steelers to the Super Bowl? "Aaron, I know it's crazy. They look good," Urlacher said. "I'm not surprised. You know, he throws it so well. You give him any kind of protection." Aaron Rodgers doesn't move like he used to, Urlacher acknowledged, "That's what happens when we get older. I found that as well my last couple years." But he is still smart and ahead of the game mentally, and Urlacher enjoys seeing him reunited with Coach McCarthy.

Rich remembered that Urlacher used to study in the film room how McCarthy would dial it up for Rodgers after Brett Favre was gone. Urlacher marveled at Green Bay's luck. "They go from Brett to Aaron to Jordan Love," he said. Love isn't at their level yet, "but their fans are so damn lucky."

Then came the line Bears fans will like. "And we finally got Caleb to kind of rival what's going on up there in Green Bay."