The face of the franchise from 2000-12 — and, arguably, even now in retirement — Brian Urlacher will be the Bears’ NFL-leading 28th enshrinee Aug. 4
MINNEAPOLIS — In the hours before the Pro Football Hall of Fame named its latest class, Brian Urlacher finally got nervous. That floored him — he’d spent months doing more than pushing the idea of being a first-ballot hall of famer out of his head. He honestly never thought about it.
But now, as the clock ticked from 3 p.m. to 3:30, the Bears great was rattled, waiting in his hotel room for a knock from hall of fame director David Baker. He told his kids to stay away from the door. He hoped the phone wouldn’t ring to tell him he’d been left out of the class on his first try.
Urlacher didn’t know then that he’d accidentally left a “Do Not Disturb” hangtag on his doorknob — something Baker ignored when he banged on Urlacher’s hotel room door to tell him he’d made the hall.
“I don’t sit there and dwell on what’s going to happen, but (Saturday) I did,” Urlacher said. “Luckily for me, it went the way I hoped it would.”
Brian Urlacher was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. (AP)
The face of the franchise from 2000-12 — and, arguably, even now in retirement — Urlacher will become the Bears’ NFL-leading 28th enshrinee Aug. 4 in Canton, Ohio. Of the 28 linebackers in the hall, Urlacher is the fifth Bears player — and he stumped for Lance Briggs to eventually become No. 6.
“A great tradition,” Urlacher said. “I’m happy to carry it on. “
It’s special, Urlacher said, that he reached the pinnacle of the sport with one team.
He will be joined by another one-team linebacker, the Ravens’ Ray Lewis. Receivers Randy Moss and Terrell Owens and safety Brian Dawkins rounded out the modern-era class. It took a 47-person selection committee, made up of media members from league markets, more than eight hours to whittle the list of 15 modern-era finalists down to the final five.
The Packers’ Jerry Kramer and the Oilers’ Robert Brazile, both senior committee players, and former Redskins and Chargers GM Bobby Beathard, a contributor, will join them.
“To get over the hump the first time, it’s pretty awesome,” Urlacher said. “This is a great class.”
His day grew even more surreal when he arrived to the NFL Honors awards show on campus at the University of Minnesota. He bumped into former Packers quarterback Brett Favre, with whom he’d never had an off-the-field conversation, before being joined by all hall of famers in attendance on the stage.
“You see that accumulation of phenomenal players and, just, it’s amazing,” he said. “To be a part of that is very humbling. I never expected to get this far in my football career.”
Urlacher was a four-time all-pro and eight-time Pro Bowl player. Still, he didn’t know whether to believe friends who thought he was a first-ballot hall of famer.
“I think he’s the smartest player that I’ve ever played against,” Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said Saturday. “No one has played the position like he did, with the freedom to check in and out of coverages. And then obviously, the talent is second to none. A guy that fast, that athletic, and with those instincts….”
Former Bears cornerback Charles Tillman described a “smart as hell” teammate who was the whole package, “going off of talent and his football IQ.”
Panthers tight end Greg Olsen, who played for the Bears from 2007-10, said Urlacher led by making everyone inside Halas Hall feel valued.
“I think the best thing I can say about Brian is, he treated everybody in that organization, from the quarterback all the way down to the ticket guy, the exact same,” Olsen said. “He made everybody feel special.”
Raised in Lovington, N. M., Urlacher’s dreams grew from simply wanting a college football scholarship to, after two seasons playing for the Lobos, thinking he could play in the NFL. Drafted No. 9 overall in 2000— the Bears debated whether to take him or receiver Plaxico Burress, who went one pick earlier — Urlacher was named the NFL’s rookie of the year. Five years later, he was the defensive player of the year. A year after that, he led the
Bears to the Super Bowl. The former college safety’s athleticism helped redefine the definition of a traditionally passive Cover 2 defense; Lovie Smith’s Tampa 2 scheme required Urlacher him to cover tight ends deep.
The 39-year-old has the rest of his life to process his place in the game. Saturday, he was still reeling.
“I need to take a step back and let it settle in,” he said. “I think the more time away from this, I’ll be more comfortable, and think about it more “
