The media and fans in Chicago are, for a lack of a better word, very nice.  They love their star athletes and even when those athletes come up significantly short, you rarely see them try to run a guy out of town or bash them in the press. 

 

I'm not from the Midwest and don't have those kind of polite sensibilities.  I would describe myself as a classic hot-headed East Coaster.  So I'm going to do Chicago fans a favor and vent about their "great" defensive leader Brian Urlacher, because I know it's not in their nature to be negative about their heroes.

 

Brian Urlacher is the most overrated middle linebacker in the league.

 

Brian Urlacher is the human highlight reel of defensive players.  When no one touches him he can make some spectacularly athletic plays.  I liken him to a basketball player like Vince Carter, who can do things athletically, that make your jaw drop.   But you can take him out of his game by playing him physically.

 

Urlacher is to linebackers as Shaun Alexander is to running backs.  When Alexander had a great offensive line and a great lead blocker in Mack Strong, Alexander could run through big holes untouched, make one guy miss and break touchdown records.  He looked great in a highlights and led his team to a Super Bowl appearance, like Urlacher.  But like Urlacher, Alexander played against sub-par NFC competition.  Without a superior offensive line and fullback Alexander would have put up half the touchdowns, if that.

 

When the defensive line occupies the run blockers and Urlacher is free to use his 4.5 speed and hurtle his body untouched at a running back he'll send them flying for a 10 yard loss.  If untouched, Urlacher can hunt down a running back from behind and turn a potential 60 yard dash into a 5 yard pickup.

 

But in football, when you play against good competition, the star middle linebacker needs to be able to shed a blocker or even two and still make the tackle.  Urlacher has never shown an ability to do this and it was never more evident than when Minnesota's Adrian Peterson torched the Bears for 224 yards and 3 touchdown runs over 30 yards.  In each of those runs it was Urlacher's job to fill the gap but Urlacher either didn't anticipate Peterson would cut back or he was easily blocked. 

 

I guarantee you that if you polled offensive lineman and fullbacks none of them would put Urlacher in the Top 10 of middle linebackers when it comes to stopping the run.

 

What made Urlacher look even worse was the fact that he knew Minnesota was going to run the ball and was still powerless to stop it.  With the inexperienced, turnover prone QB, Tarvaris Jackson, Minnesota ran the ball 43 times and passed it just 23 times.  OK, so maybe Peterson is just so damn good that no one could have stopped him.  Well, Chester Taylor managed to crank out 83 yards of his own.

 

Now let's compare Urlacher to a truly great middle linebacker, Ray Lewis.

 

Since 2005, opposing offensive rushers have cranked out a long run of 8 or more yards in 13.6% of their carries.  Against Brian Urlacher and the Bears, these same offenses produced a long run in 15.1% of carries.

 

Now Ray Lewis and the Ravens have faced opposing offenses that ran for 8+ yards in 14.1% of carries (better than Urlacher's opponents).  But these offenses ran for 8+ yards in just 8.7% of carries when facing Lewis and the Ravens.

 

Opposing teams have run for a touchdown on 2.1% of carries against Urlacher.  Against Lewis teams have run for a touchdown for just 1.0% of carries (half as many as Urlacher's teams).

 

When playing against rushing offenses that AccuScore rates in the top 1/3^rd of the league, Urlacher's Bears allowed a long run in 12.5% of carries.  Ray Lewis's Ravens allowed just 9.5%.  Weak rushing offenses ran for a long run of just 6.5% vs. Lewis, but these low rated offenses ran for 8+ yards in 17.1% of carries against Urlacher's Bears.

 

Against the Vikings on Sunday, Brian Urlacher had 5 solo tackles and 0 assisted tackles.  Now obviously you get tackles on pass completions as well as rush attempts, but the reason why middle linebackers tend to lead the league in tackles is because their role is to stop the run.  For Urlacher to have just 5 tackles against a team that ran the ball 43 times is really pathetic.   Ray Lewis had 7 solo tackles and 3 assisted even though St. Louis ran the ball just 27 times.

 

By my count Urlacher played 9 games in the 2005 and 2006 seasons against teams that made the playoffs.  He sat out one game, so that makes 9 out of 31 games against playoff teams.  When 37.5% of teams make the playoffs, but only 29% of your games are against playoff teams, it means you've had an easy schedule for 2 seasons. 

 

In 2007, Urlacher has played 3 teams that are surefire playoff teams (San Diego, Dallas, Green Bay), a Kansas City team that made the playoffs last season and would make the playoffs as of today and two teams that could still make a run (Detroit, Minnesota).   So the Bears have had a tough schedule in 2007 and surprise, surprise, Urlacher and the Bears defense is struggling. 

 

After bashing Urlacher and praising Ray Lewis I already know what the response will be.  They will call Ray Lewis a murderer and they'll talk about how they'd rather have a "good guy" like Brian Urlacher represent their city.  Blah, blah, think of something new.  And don't even try to tell me that getting killed by the Colts in the Super Bowl with Joseph Addai running right up the middle against Urlacher, is better than watching Ray Lewis win a Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer as your QB.

 

I challenge Bears fans to come up with unbiased, objective reasons why I'm wrong in saying Urlacher is overrated or better than Lewis.  And don't even think about digging up some pass protection stats to say Urlacher is better because all the defensive passing numbers (opponent QB completion percentage, passer rating, etc.), like rushing numbers are with Lewis.  The only think that Urlacher has on Lewis is ability to stay healthy.  That's no small feat, but I'd still rather have a great middle linebacker for 13 of 16 games than an overrated one for the full season.