Olin Kreutz

There will be no purple smudge on the accomplishments of Brian Urlacher. The sight of him with some sort of cat or bird on his helmet never will make anyone wince. He will not have that moment when he makes us recall Willie Mays with the Mets....

As the Bears have navigated their way through the offseason workout program, the voluntary minicamp and the rookie camp, they have started to become a team. A new team. When they convene at Halas Hall on Monday for the first of 10 scheduled OTA...

Brian Urlacher may play on opening day. He may not. He may run like the Urlacher of old. He may not. The uncertainty of Urlacher's situation makes the certainty of Lance Briggs' situation all the more comforting. Briggs answered the bell consistently...

This is how ugly starts. The aging star has one year left on his contract. He wants a new deal. The team doesn't want to give him one. He talks up the merits of free agency. Next thing you know, Brian Urlacher is a Cardinal. Or a Seahawk. Or a...

Strength and conditioning in the NFL is radically different from what it was 28 years ago, when Rusty Jones first started working for the Bills. Jones, the Bears' retiring director of physical development, is a big reason. He was the first NFL...

If a career falls in Lake Forest and no one around cares to hear it … Brian Urlacher's extraordinary career with the Bears ended with a resounding whimper Wednesday as an afternoon news release confirmed what long has been expected — that...

With a smile he rarely shows on the field, Bears left guard Chilo Rachal revealed his first name comes from French Creole origins. "It's CHI-low,'' Rachal said, accenting a hard consonant blend. Naturally. Nothing about the veteran whom the Bears made...

The game against the Lions on Sunday could have been the last one for a Bear who has been around forever and has his name listed prominently in the team record books. But the Bears decided they wanted him back. Whether or not the Bears will take the...

Inside the locker room during their last trip to the University of Phoenix Stadium one night six years ago, ecstasy made Bears players oblivious. They didn't realize somebody let reporters into their inner sanctum quicker than usual after the Bears...

Three days later, Brandon Marshall understandably felt compelled to elaborate on Sunday's emotional postgame comments demanding accountability, strong words about threatened jobs that carried all the way into the Bears front office. "Maybe that was a...

We all should be so disrespected that our employer pays us $7.7 million. Poor Matt Forte. Because of the NFL franchise tag guaranteeing Forte such a paltry salary next season, the pouty Bears running back might not have enough money to pay his team of...