In defense of Brian Urlacher

Recently on ESPN.com's Page 2, Jason Whitlock wrote an article that included his 10 observations about the NFL following the Divisional Playoffs. Though a few of these observations were quite poignant, observant, and humorous, one caught me completely off guard: That Brian Urlacher did not perform well, nor did he even make a big play, in the Bears recent playoff loss to the Panthers. Furthermore, he suggested that this proved Urlacher should not have won the Defensive Player of the Year Award. Let's overlook my flagrant homerism, and observe the letter I set to Mr. Whitlock in an attempt to show him the truth...

Mr. Whitlock,

I'd like to start by saying that your Page 2 article: Payton shouldn't call all the plays was funny, well written, and made a lot of very astute observations, however, I'm flabbergasted (have to be honest, I think I just wanted to use the word flabbergasted in a sentence) about your assessment of Brian Urlacher. You said that "Urlacher (and teammate Lance Briggs) looked overhyped against the Panthers," and follow up with "Urlacher made no big plays". I'm not sure how closely you followed the game, but it seemed to me that the Bear's defensive problems had little (if anything) to do with Urlacher and Briggs. The secondary was completely overwhelmed by Steve Smith. He hit them for so many long plays it was borderline absurd. It was as you said "one of the NFL's all-time great playoff performances". The secondary was burned so often, that there weren't any plays for Briggs and Urlahcher to make. Is it their fault Tillman fell down and Brown was late to cover? Is it their fault Thompson (who??) fell down and didn't have safety help? Is it their fault Tillman was mixed up on his substitution and left his man wide open in the end zone? The defensive line looked bad because they didn't have any time to hit the quarterback, and the linebacker seemed ineffective because they didn't have any plays to make. The game may go down as one of the all time worst performances by a secondary in the playoffs, but aside from that the Bears looked pretty good. Oh, and in case you missed it, Brian Urlacher made a spectacular one handed interception when the Panthers were deep in Bear territory, which world certainly be considered a "big play". If you don't believe me ask Peter King (Monday Morning Quarterback: Tuesday Edition). In conclusion, I don't think you can say that Brian Urlacher didn't deserve to win Defense Player of the Year honors just because of that game. He didn't have a big impact, but that largely wasn't his fault, and doesn't detract from the body of work which is used to determine the award.

On a separate note, I also take issue with your statements about Carson Palmer's rehabilitation. If you we're Carson Palmer would you trust your multi-million dollar knee to the Bengals doctor's to help build a good relationship, or would you go to the very best knee doctor and rehabilitation specialists in the world? If you were the Bengals, what would you want him to do?

Anyhow, keep up the great work! I'd love to hear a response from you.

Ciao from one of the two true Hawaiian Chicago Sports Fans (The other is my dad who I attached to this email. love you dad!),
Justin D'Olier

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I'll let you J-Bors know if and when I hear back from the now chastised Mr. Whitlock. Look out world, the J-Borhood is on the prowl! (And in my third post no less...)

ciao for now, dizolee-ay!