Brian Urlacher is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. One of the best linebackers to ever lace up a pair of cleats for the Chicago, and that’s saying a lot. For all his incredible physical feats he achieved over a long career, people never quite appreciated how intelligent he was too. Nobody has championed that side of him more, ironically, than Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. To this day the man has stated without pause that Urlacher was the best he ever went against on Sundays.
As it turns out, Rodgers isn’t short on stories about their battles against each other. With another Bears-Packers showdown looming, the 36-year old talked to Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times and other members of the media about his admiration of the Bears legend. It was then he unveiled a previously unknown story. One that involved a tactic Urlacher used during a game in 2009 when making defensive checks before the snap. Something that Rodgers has never and will never forget.
“The checks he was saying were super inappropriate,” Rodgers said. “I think it was [before] the mic’ing up of the guards, where every single word is heard, because I promise you if that had happened today, you know, some of that stuff would’ve had to get bleeped out.
“One of the first times we played golf in [Lake] Tahoe, we joked about some of those checks. I can still remember some of the crazy stuff he was saying out there. I just always wondered, ‘Was any of that stuff real or were you just [messing] around?’ We had some good laughs about that.”
Brian Urlacher always found ways to frustrate Rodgers
The game referred to is opening night of the 2009 season in Green Bay. One could say that Urlacher’s tactics worked. Rodgers had a rather quiet game with just 184 yards passing. Unfortunately, he managed to throw the winning touchdown pass in the final minutes and the Packers escaped 21-15 thanks in large part to Jay Cutler throwing four costly interceptions. Worse still, the Bears lost Urlacher for the rest of that season due to a bad wrist injury suffered earlier in that game.
There would be more great battles between the two in years to come. The ones in 2010 probably being the best with the climax coming in the NFC championship game. One where the Packers won but Urlacher also intercepted Rodgers. Their chess matches were some of the best between a quarterback and middle linebacker people are ever likely to see.
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