In one of those ironies that swirl through times like these, Brian Urlacher may have done some damage to the very individual he was trying to defend.
Upset at the negative swirl around embattled coach Lovie Smith, the injured middle linebacker ripped into fans and media on his Sunday night WFLD-TV appearance in a way that will not endear him to the organization.
More important, coupled with the emotional comments by receiver Brandon Marshall calling for accountability and possibly jobs, the result is an image of a breakdown or an unraveling, neither of which reflect well on Smiths stewardship.
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"Two of the people I don't care about: fans or media," Urlacher said to host and sports anchor Lou Canellis. "They can say what they want to about our head coach, about our players. ... It does bother me. They don't know what they're talking about, obviously.
Urlachers dislike for the media has grown in recent years so the hostility in that direction was normal. But the organization works at fan relations and Urlachers remarks promoted anything but.
"Our crowd was pretty good today for the most part, Urlacher said before resorting to sarcasm. They were loud for a minute there; the boos were really loud, which is always nice. The only team in our division that gets booed at home is us. It's unbelievable to me.
Christian Ponder and Leslie Frazier up in Minnesota may disagree, and the Detroit Lions are unlikely to be awash in acclaim when the Bears get there on Dec. 30.
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Either way, "we don't care, Urlacher said. We're going to go out there and play as hard as we can. The guys that are healthy will play and we'll do the best we can."
Marshall fallout
The emerging face of the offenseMarshallvirtually called for jobs in the wake of the 21-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers, and not all of the call for accountability appeared directed at more than players alone. Three different offensive line positions and wide receivers have seen demotions and the Bears used two different left guards, two right guards and two right tackles in the loss to Green Bay.
Marshalls comments could be construed as a declaration that there has not been sufficient accountability. Smith did not agree.
I would like to think all throughout the season we stress being accountable with every position, with all of uscoaches, players and all of us, Smith said. I dont think anything has changed from that.
There may be changes coming after the season. As far as Smiths staff, not just yet.
Well have our same coaching staff that we had Sunday, Smith said. They will be in their same jobs this week.