Saw some more stuff today talking about whether Urlacher is going to be looking at retirement soon, or if the Bears are intending to let him go at the end of the season. This comes in the face of dwindling performance from the Bears defense over the past few games, in spite of a truly blistering season through the first eight games of the year. 

I’ve definitely been finding the whole show interesting. The same topics have gotten covered for the last few years now: the Bears D is incredible but now quite old, Urlacher can’t keep at it forever in the face of some of his more common injuries, Briggs and Peppers and Tillman aren’t far behind, blah blah. It certainly hasn’t looked like the GM’s focus over the past couple of drafts has been in looking to sow the seeds of the next generation. Given that the offense is starting to look much sharper this year, perhaps it’s time to do so. 

But then, as I just said, this isn’t a new conversation. It’s been four or five years in a row I’ve heard this talk, and in spite of that they still do have that (mostly) incredible defense. Pundits at ESPN have been quick to point out how great they are, always with that little verbal asterisk of “but this can’t last forever!” Always eager to predict doom, I suppose, when they’re not busy desperately trying to uplift the failure that is Tebow.

True, it can’t last forever. So is this the end for that era? I’m inclined to say no… I have a sneaking suspicion that Urlacher will get signed to a new one year deal for a last hurrah, if for no other reason than to begin training a replacement or the defense as a whole. I should think he would make an incredible linebacker coach eventually, if that’s where he wants to go. 

I guess we’ll see.