About a week has passed since the news broke via Brian Urlacher’s Twitter account that he plans to retire after a 13-year career in the NFL. Two months prior to that, the Chicago Bears and Urlacher were unable to reach an agreement on a free-agent deal, thus ending Urlacher’s career as a Bear. As a Bears fan, I was upset that a deal could not be reached, but I understood both sides of the story. While Bears would have liked to have Urlacher back for another year, they realized that he was now just a shell of his former self and was no longer a dominant player. The Bears were prepared to offer him what they thought was a fair amount of money in a one-year contract, but Urlacher disagreed. Urlacher felt that he was worth more than the one-year, two-million dollar deal the Bears offered him, and he declined to sign the offer sheet. Whether it was Urlacher’s pride, or that he believed his career as a Bear should have earned him more money and one more year on a contract, I respected his decision to move on with his career. With that being said, I still felt a little uneasy about the thought of Urlacher putting on another NFL jersey, especially the rumored division rival Minnesota Vikings. So, whether it is selfish or not, I am glad to hear that Urlacher has decided to retire, rather than play for another team.
With Urlacher’s retirement meaning that he will end his career by playing for only one team, he has now accomplished something quite rare these days. With free-agency allowing many star players to switch teams often in their careers, or former star players refusing to call it quits, playing for one team for an entire career has become a pre-historic thought. Joe Montana with Kansas City Chiefs, Brett Favre with the New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings, Jerry Rice with the Oakland Raiders and Seattle Seahawks, and now Peyton Manning with the Denver Broncos are just a few examples of Hall of Fame caliber players finishing their careers in different cities. While none of those players have had their career images tarnished or diminished by playing for a different team, it does remove them for a special class of players. There is something pure, traditional, and historic about an athlete playing for only one team in his career. Barry Sanders retired a few years early in his career with the Detroit Lions, John Elway with the Denver Broncos, Dan Marino with the Miami Dolphins, Ray Lewis with the Baltimore Ravens, and now Urlacher will join that exclusive group. All of these players have made or will make it to the NFL Hall of Fame, but only the latter group will go into Canton wearing just one NFL hat.
-Eric Tichelbaut
Follow me on Twitter @etichel07
No comments:
Post a Comment