Will Urlacher's injury force Bears to change their tune with Briggs?

The Chicago Bears aren't about to reveal the extent of Brian Urlacher's neck injury until, oh, maybe the day before training camp starts in late July.

But if the team's attitude toward free-agent-to-be Lance Briggs changes in the next three weeks, that will be a clear indication that Bears officials are worried about Urlacher's future.

While sources with the Bears say it doesn't appear that the injury or the surgery on Urlacher's neck is career threatening, team officials are not commenting or providing details about the type of surgery or when and where it was performed.

The Bears have been resigned to letting Briggs leave since he declined their six-year $30 million offer nearly two years ago. But they will be forced to change their tune if Urlacher's neck injury, which required recent surgery, is considered career threatening.

Letting a three-time Pro Bowl player like Briggs walk when you have a healthy six-time Pro Bowler in Urlacher to anchor the defense is a business decision the Bears felt they could afford to make. But going into next season without Briggs and with Urlacher's health tenuous could undermine the team's chances of returning to the playoffs and the Super Bowl, which Bears management and coaches still consider a very real possibility.

Urlacher has been the face of the Bears since shortly after he was drafted in the first round in 2000, so Briggs has always been considered second fiddle. Since being selected in the third round in 2003, however, Briggs has played a pretty mean tune, almost matching Urlacher tackle for tackle the past four years.

This latest neck injury, even if it isn't a serious problem yet, is the latest and best indicator yet that Briggs might be a better long-term asset for the Bears than Urlacher.

Briggs, who has missed just two games in five years, is only 27. Urlacher has been extremely durable too, missing just seven games in eight years. He will turn 30 before training camp begins, however, and his play suffered in several games this past season when he was hindered by an arthritic back, which isn't going to get any better.

That doesn't mean Urlacher isn't still an exceptional player - he is. Urlacher was more effective in the final few weeks of this past season than Briggs, and he deserved another trip to the Pro Bowl as much as Briggs. But the Bears need an insurance policy if Urlacher's play slips or he misses significant time because of injuries.

If Briggs leaves, the Bears will have no depth at linebacker. Even with him, they don't have much in reserve.

For more than a year, almost no one believed there was any chance of Briggs re-signing with the Bears, but all along general manager Jerry Angelo has gone out of his way not to close the door on that slim possibility.

Now it's time to swing that door wide open and welcome Briggs back to Halas Hall.

That way they're protected if Urlacher's injury is more serious than believed. If not, they keep two of the NFL's best linebackers together for a few more years, and what's wrong with that?