Brian Urlacher is going to hang up the cleats after 13 years in the NFL with the Chicago Bears. Urlacher discussed his decision on the Rich Eisen Podcasts.

“Honestly, I’m just not quite the same player I used to be,” Urlacher said. “If I was the same player that I was three or four years ago, I think I’d still want to play, but I’m not. After I hurt my knee, I just haven’t been able to do the same things I want to do. So, it’s frustrating for me, and I don’t want to do it anymore.”

When asked if he still wanted to play he responded:

“Someone asked me the other day, what if Lovie was still there, would you still want to play or do you think it would have gone differently?” Urlacher said. “I think yes, it would have. I think I’d still want to play. Because the desire to play for your head coach. I don’t know the new coaches, but I know if Lovie was there, I’m pretty sure I’d still want to play football for him.”

You can’t be mad at a player for wanting to play for a coach that’s defensive minded and puts you in position to make plays but contract negotiations were also pretty one sided and was a slap in the face to Urlacher at this point in his career. I also understand the Bears needs at this moment. You have an aging linebacker that can still make plays but not like he used to. Do you pay the money for services rendered or do you use that money to replace him? Well it looks like the Bears made their decision and Urlacher has made his. Either way Urlacher should be a 1st ballot Hall of Famer

Yesterday, the Chicago Bears cut WR Johnny Knox from the roster. Today we learn that Knox’s NFL career may be over. According to NFL.com,

Knox’s agent told Sean Jensen of the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday that his client intended to play next season. On Wednesday, multiple sources with direct knowledge of Knox’s situation told Vaughn McClure of the Chicago Tribune he is unlikely to do so because of the serious back injury he suffered in 2011.

Knox hasn’t played since December 2011 and spent all of last season on the physically unable to perform list.

“He had to work himself back up to where he could even walk,” former Bears receivers coach Darryl Drake told the Tribune. “He had to work to get himself up out of bed. Hopefully, he’ll continue to work and get himself back to where he can have the quality of life that he needs to have.”

That report doesn’t sound good.  Hopefully Knox can recover enough to enjoy some kind of quality of life

After considering retirement, Devin Hester thinks he can play two or three more years but just maybe not in Chicago. Chris Wesseling reports that  Hester now believes he would benefit from a “fresh start”. Hester thinks that his skill set would be more suitable if Chicago designed plays for him like the Packers do for Randall Cobb but that never seemed to happen so Hester doesn’t want to play wide receiver if he stays in Chicago.

The Chicago media hasn’t been kind to Hester accusing him of being mentally and emotionally weak because if everything isn’t going right, he checks out of games. Hester admits this himself:

“I know some of the plays I should have made in terms of catching the ball. But I just wasn’t feeling it.” “My mind wasn’t there the majority of the time.”

With a new head coach coming in and Hester’s admitting that his head is not in the game, the Bears might very well put Hester on the trading block. Hester admits the possibility of a trade but he’s due a huge roster bonus this offseason so the Bears just might cut their losses before cutting the check.