Brian Urlacher is no stranger to big games. He's been in the Super Bowl, plus four other playoff games. He's played in games where the playoffs were on the line or when his coach's job is on the line. But few other regular season games have the buzz of Sunday's game against the Patriots.
For Urlacher, there are several factors motivating him for a big game. First, there's the revenge factor. During the Bears Super Bowl season in 2006, the Patriots were one of only three teams who beat the Bears in the regular season. With the game on the line, Urlacher missed tackling Tom Brady on a key first down that allowed the Patriots to score. Lance Briggs claims that Urlacher slipped, but Urlacher admits that he missed the tackle. He does not want to let that happen again.
Urlacher also has some motivation that has nothing to do with Brady and the Patriots. It's a competition with fellow linebacker Lance Briggs to see who can get the most tackles. Urlacher leads the team with 94 and is in 12th for the league, but has played a game and a half more than Briggs, who has 65.
So enjoy this, Bears fans. We could waste time considering whether or not this is a Super Bowl preview, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. Let's just acknowledge and appreciate that it's not often that you'll see a future Hall-of-Fame linebacker square off with a future Hall-of-Fame quarterback.
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