Brian Urlacher is a Bear to the bone. That was made clear enough by his decision to retire rather than play for another team in 2013. He likely had offers and could've extended his career, even gone after a Super Bowl. Instead he chose to hang it up. It just wouldn't have been the same. Players don't have that kind of loyalty these days.
It's a big reason why many Chicago fans view him as their favorite player to this day. Another reason of course was him being great. That small thing. Urlacher went on the WGN Morning News to talk about his storied career recently. He covered plenty of topic, but perhaps the juiciest was saved for the this question.
What quarterback did he enjoy competing against the most? His answer was not only unsurprising, but another reminder of how much of the Bears kool-aide he drank throughout his run on top.
Brian Urlacher loved taking down Favre and Rodgers
“[Aaron] Rodgers. I liked playing against Brett Favre," the legendary linebacker said. "We played Green Bay twice a year and they’ve had some of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. Playing against those two guys were always fun because we knew we had to play well to beat them.”
Great rivalries come and go in the NFL. Some may have had higher degrees of sustained intensity. However, none have endured like the Bears and Packers. It's the oldest in the NFL and manages to produce some epic encounters from time to time, especially over the past couple decades. Often where a division championship and even a Super Bowl berth were at stake.
His love of playing against Favre and Rodgers shouldn't be surprising. The best always love to play against the best. Based on the numbers, Urlacher always brought his A-game whenever it was Packers week. He played them 23 times in his career. Favre or Rodgers were the quarterback throughout the entire span. During that run he intercepted them five times, even returning one for a touchdown.
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There was no bigger thorn in their sides than him. The mutual respect was obvious at the end of every game. The only thing that could've made it better was if Urlacher was a quarterback himself. As it stands that wasn't the case. Nonetheless Bears fans got to see some elite-caliber football be played when those men went head-to-head. Every time the Bears won it was a different level of sweet.
Few understood that better than Brian.
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