The disappointing Bears host a constantly struggling St. Louis team this week. This gives them an opportunity to right the ship, which has recently been lost out in lake Michigan. I personally won't be surprised if the running game is the focal point for most of the day. Brian Urlacher's comments might have painted him in a negative light temporarily, but it was something that everyone knew and nobody would say. And if I am not mistaken that is the job of a leader.
Thus far it seems painfully clear that Jay Cutler has not elevated himself as a leader within the locker room. In the public he has become a polarizing figure which further isolates the voice that so desperately needs to be in a leadership role. In steps the long time leader of the team, whose injury has been shuffled toward the back of the deck in concern to the hardships of the season.
What he said and how he delivered that message are important, but finally not everyone is pretending that all is well. Obviously no person within the organization has been happy with the results this season, but nobody has seemed to address them in any serious way, at least in public.
What Urlacher has done is put the cards upon the table. This is what used to work and this is what we do now. The ball is now in the court of people like Lovie Smith whose job is on the line. Will he respond to the public statement about his team with a different game plan than the script the team has followed this season. Or does he completely ignore the giant elephant that now looms around his injured his superstar and running back who seems to have dropped off the map unexpectedly.
Urlacher did not so much give an answer to the problem, but acknowledged the fact that it is not just fans and sports writers who are conflicted by the new persona of the team. This game is very much a challenge now, either to prove that they can make this work or that they are going to commit to what Bear's football has been said to be about.
It does help that it is the Rams though.
(Photo from espn.com)
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