Bears Blitz

Published by Bryan Dietzler on May 27, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

If there has been any story that’s been beaten up over and over again for the past couple of weeks, it’s been the war of words between former Chicago Bears running back Gayle Sayers, current linebacker Brian Urlacher, and former linebacker Dick Butkus. 

We all know how this started.  Sayers made comments about the Bears, stating that they were in horrible shape, and the team is in a state of disarray.  Urlacher, known as the leader of the Bears and their voice, spoke out against Sayers’ comments, starting a war of words between the two.

Shortly after Urlacher made his comments in response to Sayers, Butkus chimed in and fired back at Urlacher. 

Now Mike Ditka has jumped in to the fray in defense of Butkus and Sayers, and feels that Urlacher should respect those players who played long ago.  Even Steve McMichael has chimed in with some words but not directed at anyone in particular. 

Instead, he helps to provide some comedic relief to this whole mess.

No matter what is said and who says it, what really matters is what happens here and now.  What matters is how the Bears do on the football field this year, as opposed to years past.  It’s not going to do any good to criticize someone who never won a championship (coming from someone who has not won a championship yet), so everything should just be left alone.

Was Sayers right when he said the things that he said?  Perhaps. 

Was Urlacher right?  Perhaps he was right too, but what really matters is what happens on the football field. 

If Urlacher and the rest of the Bears want to prove that Sayers is wrong, then they need to do it on the football field and not through the media.  The best way to do anything in this instance is win games.

I would hope that the Bears would use this as motivation to go out and win, and prove Sayers wrong. By the time they reach the regular season though, the momentum gained from this could have died.  However, if Urlacher is the leader that he has been (and many claim him to be), he will use this to his advantage and attempt to inspire his teammates to prove the doubters wrong and win a lot of games in 2010.

Sometimes all it takes is a little inspiration to help lift a team or a unit on that team to play better and win games. 

Let’s hope that the Bears can use this, along with a lot of other motivation (from negativity) that they are sure to get as the summer goes along, and have some motivation to win games.  Granted, it would be nice if they didn’t need so much motivation (and let’s hope that they don’t).

In the end, the extra motivation may be the key that helps get them over the top. 

Looking at this from Sayers’ point of view, one can see how the former Chicago Bears great may be upset at the current state of the team.  Anyone who has played for any team takes a certain amount of pride in their association with their team.  Couple that with the fact that Sayers is a Hall of Fame player, and he has some right to criticize what is going on with his former team.  His words should be listened to, but perhaps not responded to. 

It should be motivation and nothing more.

So, hopefully this is the last that we will hear of this, and those former and current Bears’ players involved can move on.  Still, you have to think that in some ways this incident might have been a good thing.

It might help put a fire in this team that will help push them towards victory.  Let’s see how they deal with it from now on.

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