Chicago Bears lose much more than a game

Not only did the Chicago Bears lose to the Green Bay Packers last night, not only did their new franchise QB throw 4 interceptions, but the Bears lost one of heir most valuable players in Linebacker Brain Urlacher. Urlacher dislocated his right wrist, and will need season ending surgery to repair it. While he has yet to be placed on the Injured Reserve list, the moment the team does Urlacher will be gone for the rest of the 2009 campaign.

This is a huge blow for a team that had high expectations coming into the season, but after last night’s miserable performance, those expectations may have been highly inflated. The simple fact here is Jay Cutler isn’t that great of a QB. His career passer rating is just 85.6, and those that thought he was the savior of this team were probably mistaken.

Add to that the loss of Urlacher. Urlacher is this team’s defensive QB and it will be lost without him. While Urlacher has been of injured this past few seasons the Bears cannot win when he does not start. The simple fact here is the Bear’s defense now has a glaring hole in it.

The Bears will look to fill that gap with the 36 year old Derrick Brooks who was cut by Tampa Bay in February, or Zach Thomas who was cut by Kansas City in their final pre-season cut downs. However, neither of these men will be able to replace what Urlacher means to this team. The Bears might very well be in store for a long season.