Dick Butkus Calls Out Urlacher On Super Bowl Weekend

He did not kill that Lions receiver (Chuck Schmidt, I think). That picture of him hovering over Schmidt was after the guy collapsed downfield, not after a hit by Butkus.

 

Oh really? Thanks for pointing that out because I could've swore I read it in a magazine/book somewhere.

 

You can't teach someone to be a hitter. You just can't. This would be like Philip Roth telling Jonathan Safran Foer to "just write like me, dammit."

It's something you're born with. It's all about hip explosion on impact and instinct, and Urlacher just isn't that kind of hitter. It's not anything to be ashamed of. Ed Reed doesn't, and can't, hit like Ronnie Lott could. That doesn't mean Reed sucks, or that we should question his toughness. But that's what people do with Urlacher because guys like Butkus want to get into a contest of who has the biggest cock, and think football is all about rage and intimidation.

Urlacher is a different kind of player. He's more of a safety-linebacker hybrid. He was a safety in college, so during his most impressionable football years, he was learning to tackle guys in space, not throw aside two pulling guards and decapitate a fullback. Everyone wants Urlacher to be like Butkus and Singleterry, two of the Baddest Mutherfuckers to ever strap on a helmet. He's not that guy. He's a hell of a lot more versatile that they ever were. The fact that he was running, stride for stride, with a wide receiver in the game against Seattle with is back turned, should tell people that not all of football is a contest of who has the biggest balls. The game has changed. People like to romanticize the good old days, especially those who played in the good old days, but Urlacher is so much faster and his job is so much harder than Butkus' ever was, they're not comparable.

Also, anyone who was a regular character on My Two Dads shouldn't be questioning anyone's toughness.

And though the eras are different (which is sort of the point above) here one last thing that's worth pointing out...

Butkus career playoff appearances: 0

Urlacher career playoff appearances: 3

 

But you know why Butkus called him out because if the Bears would to win they Urlacher to have great game on deffense.

 

Bianchi's churned out some good stuff in Miami.

I wish Dick Butkus would lighten up on Urlacher. Enough already.

Different eras require different kinds of middle linebackers. Same for Singletary, another great player. Half the stuff Butkus got away with would be 15 yards and/or an ejection these days.

Butkus was my favorite player as a kid, just because like Jim Brown and John Unitas, he seemed larger than life. He was a bad mother. Had personality. But it was totally different then. He'd say he'd like nothing more than to hit a guy so hard he'd see his head rolling down the field. Everybody laughed.

We'd be calling him a psycho and a wannabe Orenthal if a player made that comment right about now.

"I'll make you into a Pez dispenser," something to that effect.

 

Except: Isn't this column just a rehash of the Butkus critique of Urlacher that first came out two or three years ago? In that case, there couldn't be a more appropriate poster than d_b to bring this column up.

 

Sirs, Madames,

This is the same Butkus who gets dropped by Nick Nolte in the opening scene of Rich Man, Poor Man. Would Urlacher let Sean Penn drop him? Never.

YHS, etc

 

well said, DD

 

Let's call this what it is. Urlacher is the BEST white MLB the Bears have had since Butkus. Is he as good as Butkus, no.
Dick isn't one of the brightest people you'd meet in a bar, but he is one of the honest that you'll bend an elbow with. Always has been.