A little while ago, I was listening to a local, Twin Cities sports-talk radio station, called KFAN. Vikings Wide Receiver, Bobby Wade, was on (Vikings radio play-by-play announcer) Paul Allen’s show and said that he had recently been partying in Vegas with Brian Urlacher. When asked what, if anything, Urlacher had said about recently acquired QB, Jay Cutler, Wade said, “Urlacher thinks he’s a pussy.”
How about the strife and confusion in the Vickes locker room after AP, Hutch and other players begged Favre to come back? My theory, he was a true Packer until the end, just fucking with the Vickings on purpose.
(Not that it doesnt warm my heart to hear about trouble in chicago)
Take it from someone in Colorado. Cutler is a pussy. Also, nothing is ever his fault. Get used to it, Bears fans. He’ll look like Joe Montana with John Elway’s arm moving the team up and down the field, but when he fumbles in the red zone in the last two minutes, it’s because the ball boy didn’t dry off the ball properly, and the grass was too long and he couldn’t run out of bounds because the guy holding the parabolic microphone was in his way.
If Urlacher doesn’t step up his play in the upcoming season I’m not sure he’ll get off calling anyone a pussy. Of course Cutler did act like a pussy when his feelings got hurt in Denver, so that’s probably the context it was in. If Cutler throws the ball half as well as he did in Denver in Soldier Field it won’t make a lick of difference.
In Chicago we feel pretty comfortable when the defense and offense hate each other. It won us a Super Bowl.
I grew up around Urlacher’s hometown of Lovington, NM, and he owns (most likely, in a VERY silent partnership!) Brian Urlacher’s Cross Country Auto Sales. “If you can’t see the difference, why pay the difference?”
True, but so what? He was an arrogant prick who could carry a team on his back for weeks at a time, and regularly did.
Thurman Munson and Reggie Jackson loathed each other, Shaq and Kobe loathed each other, Troy and Barry loathed each other, but in the end, they won championships together.
Team morale is overrated. I forget who I’m stealing this observation from, but here it is:
**Whenever a team is on a losing streak, and the players are squabbling and pointing fingers, fans and reporters always say, “Why don’t they pull together? If they’d just pull together, maybe they’d start winning!” But they’ve got it backwards. If the team would just start winning, they’d finally pull together.
**
Brian Urlacher doesn’t HAVE to like Jay Cutler (it’s not as if he’s going to be in the trenches blocking for Cutler, is it?). He just has to make tackles. If he does his job and Cutler does his job, the Bears CAN make it back to the Super Bowl. And if they do, will anyone remember or care that Urlacher thought Cutler was a pussy?
Again, that WOULD be a problem for Cutler if Urlacher were a center or an offensive tackle. A quarterback NEEDS the respect of his protectors. He DOESN’T need the respect of his team’s linebackers.
If Reggie Jackson hated Thurman Munson, was he going to strike out deliberately when Munson was on base (“No way I’m driving THAT jerk in!”)? No!
If Shaq hated Kobe, was he going to stop going after rebounds (“If I grab this rebound, that showboating Kobe might eventually get a basket out of it!”)? No!
If Troy Aikman hated Barry Switzer, was he going to throw picks deliberately (“I don’t want that lying S.O.B. to get a Super Bowl ring!”)? No!
As it is, if Urlacher disrespects Cutler… what then? Is he going to start missing tackles deliberately? Is he going to play at a less intense level? No. Presumably, Urlacher will continue to play linebacker at a high level. If he performs, and Cutler does too, the Bears will win. If they DON’T perform, the Bears will lose, even if they’re the best of buddies. So, what’s the difference whether they send each other birthday cards or not?
I think it matters with an NFL quarteback at least to the extent that it affects his ability to command respect in the huddle. If a quarterback loses the respect of his offense, it’s a problem (and it happens).
Urlacher is a defensive player, so it matters less if Cutler has his respect, but Urlacher is also an alpha male in the locker room, and still the team’s best player and biggest star, so if he doesn’t respect Cutler’s game (which is a different issue than just not liking him), that feeling could easily bleed over to the offense.
I heard Urlacher is now denying that he said that, though (which I’d expect him to say, regardless), so it might blow over. as a Vikings fan, I hope it festers, but it probably won’t.
