This Sunday, Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Brian Urlacher will sail down memory lane on Lake Michigan with City Cruises.
No. 54, who played linebacker for the Bears from 2000 to 2012, will share some stories from the glory days of the NFC Championship run.
Ahead of that event, Urlacher weighed in on the current Bears team. He thinks the Bears will right the ship with head coach Ben Johnson and quarterback Caleb Williams leading the way.
Urlacher said Williams was a standout last year despite a disappointing season for the Bears overall.
"I like Caleb. I like what he did last year. It's hard as a rookie to come in and have success…," Urlacher said. "The numbers he had were great, and he didn't turn the ball over. That's a big deal for me as a defensive guy to have a rookie quarterback who doesn't turn the ball over. He understands that. He's athletic. He throws the ball good. He's only going to be better and better. I'm excited for him to see what he can do under Ben Johnson, because he's going to put him in position to make a lot of plays."
Urlacher first played for the Bears under the late Dick Jauron, and went to the Super Bowl with Lovie Smith at the helm. Since Smith was fired after the 2012 season, the Bears have gone through a succession of coaches who only lasted two or three seasons — Marc Trestman, John Fox, Matt Nagy, and most recently Matt Eberflus, who was fired mid-season last year after the team's high-profile Thanksgiving Day loss to the Lions.
Urlacher said he thinks the Bears have finally gotten it right with new head coach Johnson, and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen.
"I feel like they do a good job of hiring. For some reason, it doesn't work out. It drives me crazy, because I want to see them do well. But you know, I like Ben Johnson, but I like Dennis Allen as well. I think Dennis Allen, as a former head coach and a really good coordinator, is going to bring some stability to that defense, not that they need it — they've been good for a long time," Urlacher said. "But Ben Johnson on the offensive side of the ball is going to bring something I don't think Bears fans have ever seen. Just the ways that he puts guys in position to make plays, it's going to really benefit them and what they can do well."
Meanwhile, does Urlacher miss training camp all these years later? No, he does not.
"You know, we were just talking about the weather earlier before we went on, and how hot it's going to be there, and how humid it is — man, I don't miss being in full pads out in that weather," he said. "I do miss being around my teammates and my coaches and staff and all that, but I do not miss working, you know, practicing three hours a day. It is different now. The schedule is much different than it was when I played. It's good for the players. But I don't miss it at all."
And while the 1985 Bears are forever the most iconic, but the 2006 Bears are a close runner-up — with Urlacher, Rex Grossman, Cedric Benson, Devin Hester, Charles "Peanut" Tillman, Robbie Gould. The Bears lost Super Bowl XLI to the Indianapolis Colts, but they went down as NFC champions and brought plenty of excitement to the city.
Believe it or not, it has been almost 20 years since then. Not since 1985, which was 40 years ago now. Since 2006.
One unforgettable image from that season was Urlacher himself holding up the Halas Trophy at Soldier Field as the snow came down alongside the late Bears owner Virginia McCaskey, after the Bears beat the New Orleans Saints for the NFC Championship.
Urlacher called that moment "probably my fondest memory of my career."
"Just that season — some of the games we had, some of the situations we were in — just a great season all around," he said.
Ryan Baker
Ryan Baker is the sports director at CBS Chicago.