Brian Urlacher, a surefire future Hall of Fame linebacker for the Chicago Bears, had a messy divorce from the Monsters of the Midway. Now, as a Fox Sports 1 analyst, he's dishing a little dirt on one of the Bears' sneakier tactics.
According to Urlacher, during his tenure the Bears' defense would have a designated "dive" guy, who would fake injuries to buy time for substitutions or adjustments. This "dive" guy would be signaled by a coach on the sideline, who would pantomime a swimmer's diving motion. When that motion was made on the sideline, the "dive" guy "would get hurt."
Urlacher played all 13 of his NFL seasons with the Bears, winning the 2000 NFC Defensive Rookie of the Year award, and also taking home a 2005 Defensive Player of the Year award. He is also an eight-time Pro Bowler, four time First Team All-Pro.
In those 13 seasons Urlacher recorded 1,358 tackles, 41.5 sacks, 22 interceptions, 11 forced fumbles, 15 fumble recoveries, and scored three defensive touchdowns. He was also considered the top cover linebacker in the NFL for the majority of seasons he played.
After all that success, however, Urlacher wasn't happy with Chicago's lowball offer for him to return, causing a heated back-and-forth that ended with Urlacher retiring. Upon hanging up his cleats, Urlacher expressed his displeasure with the organization.
On Sports Talk Live Urlacher said, "They made it sound like they wanted to negotiate when they really didn't. He already had something in mind before we even started talking. If they would have told me that, I would probably still be playing right now. I was so mad the way it went down, and just the dishonesty. There's two sides to every story. You guys know that, everyone knows that, and then there's the truth somewhere in the middle of that. But I have no hard feelings. I just wish it would've been handled a little bit better."
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