As Bears hot air goes, this was vintage

If a wild Bear burps in the woods, the echoes reverberate throughout the Chicago area.

At least they do until the anthem is sung and the puck drops in the United Center.

The latest Bears' burp wasn't even perpetrated by a current player in Lake Forest this weekend during minicamp.

It came from a legend who hasn't played an NFL game for nearly 40 years. He said something in Nebraska, of all places. The Bears weren't near the practice field yet.

Yet one burp led to another and then another and they added up to a quirky non-story sports story.

By now you know that Gale Sayers essentially proclaimed last week that his NFL alma mater frustrates him.

The Hall of Fame running back specifically mentioned that quarterback Jay Cutler didn't get the job done last year, which he didn't; that linebacker Brian Urlacher is a question mark coming back from injury, which he is; and that head coach Lovie Smith will lose his job if the Bears don't improve, which he will.

Sayers pretty much reiterated what Doris is saying from her barstool in the corner tap, Lenny is saying on the assembly line, Sally is saying on her construction site, Willie is saying on the trading floor, school kids are saying on the playground -

Yet Urlacher, whose head sometimes is as thick as his skin is thin, chose to take exception to Sayers' remarks.

Urlacher insulted Sayers by declaring him unfit to criticize the Bears because he never won a championship.

(Folks, I keep burping that you can't criticize me unless you have a Pulitzer Prize but nobody agrees.)

Anyway, Dick Butkus, who also didn't win anything significant in the NFL, defended Sayers. So did Mike Ditka and Dan Hampton, who won a lot.

Neither side is relenting. If the Bears demonstrated this much fire on the field in recent years there wouldn't be enough room in Halas Hall for all the Super Bowl trophies.

So, whom do you think I'm siding with? Dumb question. Urlacher was talkin' 'bout my generation. Mess with one vintage person and you mess with all vintage persons.

Let's start by saying that if all were in their primes, Urlacher never would have tackled Sayers, outhit Butkus or shed a Ditka block.

If Urlacher wants to challenge Butkus even today, all it would take from Super Crunch to put him on the ground would be a glare.

OK, I'm exaggerating. Urlacher has been a heckuva middle linebacker for the Bears and some day might join Sayers, Butkus, Ditka and Hampton in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

But I smirk at hearing Urlacher mention that Sayers played on a 1-13 team.

More of those 1969 Bears - Sayers, Butkus, Doug Buffone and Bobby Douglass among them - remain more beloved in these parts than any of the '06 Bears that reached the Super Bowl.

That 1-13 team played hard-nosed football the way Bears teams are supposed to while the 13-3 Bears were relative patty-cakers who lost the big one.

No matter what the records indicate, Urlacher can't win a feud with the likes of Sayers, Butkus and Ditka.

The foundation laid by those older guys is the only reason anybody listens when an Urlacher burps today anyway.

That's my belch and I'm sticking to it.

mimrem@dailyherald.com