Brian Urlacher Quotations

We're flying to the ball. We're making plays when we have to.

We know about the tradition here and all that good stuff. We've just got to make plays. That's what it comes down to. We know there's a lot of good defenses here in the past, and we feel like we're one of those teams.

All I can do is go out there and play hard and try and help my team win, and that's what I'm going to keep doing.

Steve Smith, thats what happened to us. He just kept making plays. We had a plan. We never really doubled him. We ran a lot of Cover 2, and obviously that didnt work out too good for us.

Two of the people I don't care about: fans or media,

But I hate the way our identity has changed. We used to establish the run and wear teams down and try not to make mistakes, and we’d rely on our defense to keep us in the game and make big plays to put us in position to win. Kyle Orton might not be the flashiest quarterback, but the guy is a winner, and that formula worked for us. I hate to say it, but that’s the truth.

I want to be remembered as a championship football player.

You've got to be a little nasty out there. But most of the time, I'm having fun.

I see things as they happen pretty quick, and I just go hit it.

You want to be the best at your position. And if people think of me as one of the best ever, that's the ultimate compliment.

I like to think of myself as a regular guy, except I play football for a living. I try not to be an arrogant turd out there.

I love football in the rain. That is what it's all about.

It's freaking football. There are going to be big hits. I don't understand how they can do this after one weekend of hitting. And I can't understand how they can suspend us for it. I think it's a bunch of bull.

You can call it ugly if you want, but I'd call it a win.

If you play angry, you lose what you're supposed to do. On defense we just read our keys and play fast.

You know what we should do? We should just put flags on everybody. Let's make it the NFFL - the National Flag Football League. It's unbelievable.

How great a life is this? To get to knock guys' heads off for 60 minutes and not get thrown in jail?

My mom is my heart. But my [step]dad was my role model, the hardest working man I ever knew.

I lead by example. But if I get pissed enough, I'll say something. It usually isn't rah-rah; it's more complaining.

People don't think I'm big enough to be mean. I don't look big enough, but I am.

Maybe we shouldn't get a bye week anymore.

No one gives us respect. They do, but kind of begrudgingly. But we haven't beaten anyone in the playoffs yet, and we need to win playoff games to get respect. Everyone in the room knows that.

No one believed us back then, but there was really no doubt in our mind how good we can be.

Only time will tell. We feel like we have good players. We brought Moose in, we brought Fred Miller in on offence,

I don't even remember that season because it ended badly.

I don't remember much from that season, it's so long ago. We know we have a good chance to do something special here and that's the way we're going to approach it.

He doesn't look any different to me. He was as strong as ever.

We sure do talk a lot for a team that gives up a couple big plays every game,

He's been trying to come to terms with it for a long time. I think he knew a while back he was going to do this. I'm sure it's not easy for him -- it's what he's done his whole life, it's what he loves to do -- but he's making the right decision when it comes to your livelihood and being able to walk and all that good stuff. Don't mess with your neck.

When they needed a play, he made it. He's the best offensive player in the league.

Jamal's a house. I tried to tackle him in the Pro Bowl a couple times and he's not an easy guy to bring down. He's a big boy and he runs hard. We've got our work cut out for us. We've got to stay in our gaps and be sure tacklers.

Jamal's a house, ... I tried to tackle him in the Pro Bowl a couple times and he's not an easy guy to bring down. He's a big boy and he runs hard. We've got our work cut out for us. We've got to stay in our gaps and be sure tacklers.

I think we know we are No. 1. I don't think yards equal wins. Yards are big, but points are the main thing that matters. We did not play very well and gave up a bunch of yards and I think we lost our No. 1 status, but points are a big deal and I think we hold that.

People are realizing we have some good players here. Anytime you lose, nothing really matters except winning. ... People realize that when you win, you obviously have some good players on your team.

Rivera turned us loose today, ... He called a bunch of blitzes -- they worked. We got a bunch of pressure, and when he did get rid of the ball we tackled the guys. We flew around and had a good time.

Look at the teams we played when I was not there - Indy, Minnesota, Green Bay, Philadelphia - that's four playoff teams right there. I don't think it's a significant statistic. We just have to play better when I'm not in there or play easier teams.

I wish it would've happened sooner, because I've hated looking up from the bottom. But it's our turn to be on top for a while now.

It feels like crap right now. Disappointing. But I guess you could look at the bright side and say we're a young team and all that good stuff. It's going to hurt for a while.

We never really doubled him. We ran a lot of Cover-2, and obviously that did not work out too well for us. When they needed a play, he made it and we didn't.

That was unbelievable. It was awesome. I've never been a part of something like that. The game's usually over unless you get some great plays like we did, but the ball was bouncing our way that year.

We need to reel off three, four, or five (wins) in a row and go from there.

We haven't won any games in the playoffs yet. If we can win, I'll definitely be happy to be compared to them.

We have to stop thinking we're a good defense and start stepping up and do it. Two plays killed us. No excuses.

We don't give up a lot of yards, just too many big plays.

We had to win in the playoffs to earn respect and we didn't do that. So all of the people who doubted us, I guess, were right. We may be a good team, but we're not a great team.

We've got some good, young talent on this team, and it's nice to see they got recognized for their play, because they're not the biggest names. There are a lot of guys out there who probably get more recognition from the media, but these guys go out there and play hard every week, and they put it on film, and the players around the league and the coaches around the league saw that. That's why they're going.

We have to play better. If we think we're a good defense, we better start showing it. We didn't make plays when we had to. We gave up a couple of big plays. We had a chance to win the game. We were in the game the whole time and found a way to lose at the end.

We found a way to lose it at the end. We had played well for 3 1/2 quarters.

We found a way to lose at the end.

We haven't beaten anyone in the playoffs yet, and that's what we have to do. We've won a lot of big games in the regular season, but we need to win playoff games to get respect.

We were in the game the whole time and found a way to lose in the end.

We're not the Giants. If they overlooked us, didn't play their best game, whatever. We didn't play our best game either. They scored three points, so we didn't play our best game. They scored on us; they shouldn't have.

We did what we said we were going to do, ... We got in his (Harrington's) face, and we got some pressure on him and got him to throw the ball sometimes when he didn't want to. And we got some takeaways -- what we've got to do every week.

We play hard, we take the ball away and the No. 1 thing is we get to the quarterback and we get to the ball. When the ball is on the ground, we usually have a lot of guys around it.

We know we are No. 1. Yards don't equal wins. Yards are big, but points are the main thing that matters.

Today, our defense flew around and had a good time. It was fun out there.

We didn't tackle. We didn't get in our gaps. Our defense is predicated on getting in our gaps. In order to give ourselves a chance to win games, we can't do that.

We didn't have any three-and-outs, a lot of takeaways, a lot of sacks. That's what we thrive on.

We were young last time, too, and we ended up being 4-12 the next year. I'd like to think we'll be better next year. We have a lot of guys coming back. ... We're optimistic, but I'm not going to look at that right now.

We kind of got after him a little bit. We were flying to the ball, running our gaps.

We've just got to be more disciplined. If we get out of our gaps and miss tackles, we're going to get gashed. That happened quite a bit.

We've had an extra year in the system. I don't see why we can't be the best defense in the league.

We think it's possible. We get a lot of takeaways. The ball seems like it's bounced in our direction right now. We've got to get those balls. We haven't created a lot of fumbles so far. We've got to get the ball on the ground and try to get in the end zone that way.

Even though you're not in the game, you still like to win and see your teammates do well, so it was a little frustrating. But at the same time, we got out of this game healthy with the people we need to get to the Super Bowl, and that's the number one goal we wanted to take into the playoffs.

Things have gotten better on defence. It looks like our whole team has gotten better. We just have to go out there and do it on Sundays. We can talk all we want, but until we go out there and prove it, it doesn't mean anything.

It would be nice to give us a chance to get the ball rolling and get a little confidence.

Our third downs were terrible. We have to make more plays on third down. We have to get better.

A few years ago I was definitely hoping the three of us could have stayed together for a long time. But we've got a new thing going here, and Lance doesn't have to take a backseat to anybody.

There was no doubt in anyone's mind we had the personnel to do it.

This is tough for our team, too, because he was one of our leaders. One of the emotional guys out there on the field. He's just an unbelievable guy. At least he didn't injure himself bad. I know that's a blessing for him.

There's a lot of stuff we need to correct.

It's just a different mind-set around here this time. I know that's easy for me to say, but I mean it.

It's a good problem to have, if you call it a problem. And it is not a problem. Any time you have a chance to get an off week, it's a good thing. We have given ourselves a good opportunity to rest some guys. It would be nice to sweep our division. It would be great to get 12 wins, but so would having everyone healthy for a playoff game.

It's a non-issue; it's behind us now. That was a long time ago.

It's a little different trying to run the ball with eight guys in the box. The Vikings haven't had to face that because of the Randy Moss factor.

The No. 1 thing is you have to be able to protect the quarterback, ... If we put pressure on him and stop the run, we'll put ourselves in some good situations.

That's our guy, and everyone knows it. He's our leader out there. He gets us going ? the whole team, not just the defense.

Takeaways, stopping the run, and as long as we don't turn the ball over, I think we'll be OK. If we don't give them a chance to score with their defense on the field, we'll be OK.

It was a great hit. The refs didn't call a penalty, so it was a good play.

They kept a lot of guys in and only had two or three out on the routes. We thought we would get pressure with four, and they kept seven or eight in to block.

The last couple of years we got off to bad starts, 0-4, 1-5,

I love when people pick against us because we just go out and prove them wrong. In training camp, there was no doubt in anyone's mind we had the personnel to do it. It was just a matter of staying healthy and going out there and doing it. Knock on wood, we stayed healthy, and it's been a fun season for us so far.

If I was someone, I'd do the same to us after watching that film.

I'll bet I have 250 pairs. I can't throw any away because as a kid we got one pair a year. Now I order 20 pairs at a time.

I hear so-called experts say Carolina's the best team in the NFC. Well, let's see if they're right.

I haven't even looked at it yet, Mike.

I don't want to go through that again. We got beat up in that game. We couldn't stop the run, we couldn't run the ball, and we turned the ball over. I don't want to remember that game, it ended so badly. We weren't the same for a long time after that. We learned that we've got to play a lot better to win playoff games.

The guy's unbelievable. He made a lot of plays.