Urlacher is on his downslide, but it was evident that we needed him last year. People didnt realize how much opposing teams attacked the middle of the field without him there. Even on his downslide, he still puts some fear into opposing teams game plan.
Okay, so they may be fearful when throwing to the middle of the field, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he was good at actually stopping them from throwing there.
In 2007, the Bears were 27th in the NFL at defending the pass, both in terms of total yards and yards per attempt. In 2008 they were 30th in total pass yards allowed and 22nd in yards per attempt.
So, I mean yeah, he definitely WAS an unstoppable force at one point, but he has since regressed and become an over-pursuing coverage LB that's soft up the middle and doesn't like to make child support payments. I don't get why Bears fans are so unwilling to admit or even consider that Urlacher is a shadow of his former self and may only be an average Cover 2 linebacker at this point.
bamainatlantaYou wake him up, you keep him up