Urlacher's story tells Bears' story

As usual Monday, Lovie Smith was frustratingly maddening while discussing one of his players.

The Bears head coach's assessment was that the player "at times played well and at other times needed to pick it up a little bit."

Smith's voice projected very little emotion and certainly no anger at the player, the player's position coach or anybody else.

Now, that would be fine if Smith were talking about a Rashied Davis or a Danieal Manning.

But the subject was Brian Urlacher, as good a symbol as any of why the Bears didn't qualify for the playoffs.

Urlacher isn't just any player. For years now he has been the face of the franchise as the latest in its long line of premier middle linebackers.

But this season neither Urlacher the player nor Urlacher the leader earned the millions of dollars he whined the Bears into giving him last off-season.

And in that respect, Urlacher was just like too many others at Halas Hall who seemed to have too much money and too much security.

Urlacher underperformed in relation to his salary just as Smith did, and just as general manager Jerry Angelo did, and just as club president Ted Phillips did, and just as the McCaskey ownership did.

They combined to build a team that slipped from contention to .500 over two years and from the Super Bowl to out of the playoffs.

It just isn't enough to calmly say that Urlacher played well at times and didn't play well enough at other times, just as it wouldn't be enough to calmly say Smith coached well in some games and not in others, or that Angelo acquired some good players but missed on too many others.

If the incumbent leader on the field plays well only at times, that's the kind of football team you get, one that's consistent only at being nowhere near as good as the game it talks.

The scary part is that Urlacher might reflect the Bears as a whole - he isn't nearly the Pro Bowl player he was, and they aren't nearly the Super Bowl contenders they were.

"Brian is a young football player," Smith said. "We expect him to get back to Pro Bowl form."

If only it were that simple.

The word I think I heard come from Smith was dedication, as in Urlacher can return to greatness if he dedicates himself.

Was dedication the problem for Urlacher? Was it for his teammates, too? Was it for the front office and the coaching staff and ownership and everybody else in the building?

If so, what a shame to squander the momentum of a Super Bowl season in just two years by taking good fortune for granted, becoming complacent, losing focus and forgetting how you once arrived at where you wanted to be.

Asked why Urlacher wasn't his old self this season, Smith said, "It's hard to say exactly why. Look at our entire football team. We didn't get it done."

OK, so maybe just as success is a team effort, perhaps this failure was a team lack of effort, dedication, focus, urgency, passion, talent or all of the above.

But it was symbolized by one player - the face of the franchise who played well at times and at times needed to step it up.

mimrem@dailyherald.com