Believe it or not, there was a point in time where few people knew who Brian Urlacher was. That included many of his teammates. In 2000, he was just a former safety out of the University of New Mexico the Chicago Bears had taken #9 overall in the draft. Experts insisted he was a freak athlete with ridiculous potential. Yet many felt he hadn’t played against real competition. The big boys would soon set him straight.
At least that what a lot of guys on the roster felt when Urlacher arrived for his first practices. Olin Kreutz was one example. He had become their starting center the year before and was going into his third year. His talent was getting clearer every day. A talent that would soon make him a six-time Pro Bowler.
Needless to say, Kreutz had confidence in himself. So it must’ve been quite the ecstatic revelation when the Bears decided to shift Urlacher from outside linebacker to middle linebacker for the first time in practice. He was replacing respected veteran Barry Minter whom many on the team loved. So Kreutz felt it was his duty to tell the rookie not to get comfortable.
Instead it was Urlacher who wound up sending a message as Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune found out.
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“So they put Urlacher at middle linebacker and in those days, I am not saying I was great, but when there was outside zone, linebackers were easy for me and I cut them off in a second. So I jump out and try to cut off ’Lach on that first play and he just (absolutely) flies (by me). I came back to the huddle and I was like, “(Wow!) That guy is fast! Leave him there.” That was my third year and I wasn’t great, but I was pretty damn good by then and I jumped out there like, “This is my block. I’m going to kill this guy.” He just flew by me big and strong and fast and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything quite like that.”
Kreutz wasn’t the only lineman who got the Brian Urlacher revelation
Turns out he wasn’t the only future Pro Bowler that the eventual Hall of Famer stunned during practice that year. James “Big Cat” Williams was a longtime fixture at right tackle for the Bears. He had his opportunity to knock the rookie down a peg when the Bears still had Urlacher playing outside linebacker. Williams had everything planned out.
Despite that, his best efforts and even a mistake from Urlacher himself, he still failed.
It was myself and (guard) Chris Villarrial. We teamed up to (block) Urlacher, and we missed him. We got back to the huddle and talked amongst ourselves, and we couldn’t figure it out. We were like, “Damn, that dude is fast as hell.”
So we go back in and look at film. Come to find out, dude had taken three steps in the wrong direction and was fast enough to still beat us over the top. We were like, “Dude, we are in some trrrooouuuubbbbbble. We might have to make some adjustments.”
You know a guy is good when he does the exact wrong thing at the start of the play and still manages to do his job by the end of it. One can only imagine how much of a nightmare Urlacher became when he began to grasp the mental side of the game. These stories just reinforce that even from the first practices it was apparent the man was going to be special.
