Lance Briggs Backs Up Brian Urlacher in Calling Out Bears Fans for Booing
By Josh Hill
It seems like ages ago that the Chicago Bears were the darlings of the NFL. They had a defense that was obsessed with forcing fumbles and intercepting quarterbacks, and many were saying this was the finest Bears team we’ve seen since — dare I say it– the 1985 Super Bowl team. But after starting the season red hot, the Bears have dropped to 8-6 and went from racing the Falcons for the No. 1 seed, to fighting for their playoff lives.
Brian Urlacher, who is currently sidelined with an injury that will probably keep him out until the end of the season, wasn’t happy about hearing Bears fans boo at Soldiers Field on Sunday. In fact, the Bears legend went all Alec Guiness and said he doesn’t care much for Bears fans at all.
“Two of the people I don’t care about: fans or media,” Urlacher told WFLD-TV, via the Chicago Tribune. “They can say what they want to about our head coach, about our players. … It does bother me. They don’t know what they’re talking about, obviously.”
Urlacher, who’s been with the Bears since 2000, took a load of heat for saying what he said. But he’s getting some support from a fellow teammate, as Lance Briggs has voiced similar displeasure with being booed.
“I understand where [Urlacher’s] coming from,” Briggs told Comcast SportsNet Chicago. “I’ve been here a long time, too and I’ve (heard) a lot of boos. For a lot of the wrong reasons. Nobody, on any team I’ve seen, gets booed more at home than here in Chicago.
As Chris Chase hilariously points out in his column today, when your team started the season 7-1 and follows that up by losing five of their last six games, Bears fans are completely and utterly in the wrong for booing.
Briggs comments, along with the frustrations of Urlacher — who is likely lashing out due to the fact Chicago’s unlikely to give him a new contract at the end of the season– just goes to show how quickly tides can turn in the NFL. If the Bears miss the playoffs, a lot of Mets fans will be holding the door open at the next How to Cope with your Team’s Epic Collapse meeting.