Brian Urlacher Ranked The Best Linebackers In Bears History
It is a conversation Chicago Bears fans have all the time. Their team has the most storied legacy of middle linebackers in NFL history. That isn’t even up for debate at this point. The arguments can go out the window when you’ve put four of them into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Asking the question is more for fun but still interesting. Who is the best linebacker in Bears history? Every fan and expert has their choice. So maybe it would be interesting to hear from one of the actual players. Brian Urlacher had that opportunity.
During an appearance on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast, he was asked straight up by Will Compton about his personal rankings. It would’ve been easy for Urlacher to declare himself the best. Instead, he made a surprising statement that might make Bears fans respect him even more.
Brian Urlacher kept it realistic, and he’s 100% correct.
People forget how incredible Dick Butkus was during his career in Chicago. They always talk about the ferocious hits. They never talk enough about the production. Butkus played in an era where tackles and forced fumbles weren’t tracked. However, he did have 27 recovered fumbles and 11 sacks.
On top of that, he retired with 22 career interceptions. He managed all of that in only 119 career games. It was a tragedy how knee injuries cut his career short. Urlacher had the same number of interceptions but needed 182 games to do it.
Mike Singletary was an all-time great and deserving of every accolade he got. That said, he was a one-dimensional linebacker. When teams ran the ball at him, they were wasting their time. It became a different story when they targeted him in coverage. He only had seven career interceptions and 19 sacks. Brian Urlacher had 22 and 41.5, respectively. So yes, he is correct in stating he was the better linebacker compared to “Samurai.”
The fun part of the debate is whether Roquan Smith might be joining it soon. He’s had an electric start to his NFL career and is still not even 25 years old yet. He is also entering a defensive system tailor-made for players like him. Smith might have something to say about Urlacher’s rankings in a few more years.