LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) -As the Chicago Bears wind down their disappointing season, defensive end Alex Brown isn’t thinking about the players who might be on their way out.
His mind is on the one who went down.
The Bears lost star middle linebacker Brian Urlacher to a dislocated right wrist in the opener at Green Bay, setting a bad tone for a team that had high expectations but is 6-9 heading into the final game at Detroit. Even so, Brown insisted he sees enough talent to compete again, particularly if the guy wearing No. 54 is healthy.
if you bring it up during the season, people tend to say that it’s an excuse. Take Peyton Manning off Indianapolis and let’s see what happens. We’ll have him back and I think we’ll be a different defense and different team next year.”
The Bears thought they would be a different team this year, with the arrival of rocket-armed quarterback Jay Cutler from Denver in a trade that launched sky high optimism.
Instead, they fell apart after a 3-1 start and missed the playoffs for the third straight year, sparking speculation about coach Lovie Smith’s job status along with general manager Jerry Angelo’s. They can point to Cutler’s interceptions, poor blocking, the lack of a running game and some poor execution on defense. And, of course, they can point to the absence of Urlacher, the six-time Pro Bowler who appeared to be in better shape after being limited in recent seasons by neck and back problems.
He looked like his old self when he lowered his shoulder and plowed over Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the first quarter of the opener. And then, he was finished.
He came up shaking his hand after tackling the Packers’ Ryan Grant later in the quarter and played until halftime with a dislocated lunate bone that required pins to be surgically inserted, a major blow for a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since that Super Bowl run three years ago.
tarted 11 of the past 14 games at middle linebacker. “Teams lose great players all the time. You’re using Peyton Manning as an example, but take some defensive guys. Take the Steelers without Troy Polamalu. Take Baltimore with and without Ed Reed or Ray Lewis. There are only a handful of guys like that in the league. Brian’s one of them.”
So no, Brown’s comment didn’t offend him.
“That seems like an obvious thing to say,” Hillenmeyer said. “He is a future Hall of Famer. Him saying that is certainly not going to hurt my feelings, to say that you miss a guy who’s gone to the Pro Bowl almost every year he’s been in the league and been healthy. That just seems like stating the obvious to me.”
What’s less clear is where the Bears go from here.
Besides the speculation about Smith and Angelo, not to mention offensive coordinator Ron Turner, there are glaring issues on both sides of the ball. Even after good seasons, there’s change. And the Bears were anything but this year.
If they don’t overhaul the roster, are the Bears good enough to compete even with a healthy Urlacher? Angelo said at Baltimore two weeks ago that they are, even if the record doesn’t look good.
6-0 halftime lead.
late? Yes.
But at least the Bears have a chance to end the season with two straight wins, even if that’s little consolation.
“We have to build on how we played last week because the thing about us is we haven’t been consistent,” defensive tackle Anthony Adams said. “To win two games in a row, that’s showing progress. That’s showing that we can be consistent.”
NOTES: WR Devin Hester (calf) and S Kevin Payne (ankle) went through a full practice on Thursday after being limited the previous day. Hester has missed the past three games.
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