Urlacher Defensive Player of the Year

From chicagobears.com:

Urlacher earns NFL Defensive Player of Year Award
By Larry Mayer
January 6, 2006



LAKE FOREST, Ill. - Returning to his customary Pro Bowl form after an injury-plagued 2004 season, Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher on Friday was named The Associated Press NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
For the fifth time in six NFL seasons, Urlacher led the Bears in tackles and was voted to the Pro Bowl. The 6-4, 258-pounder registered 171 stops including six sacks while spearheading a dominant defense that ranked first in the league in points allowed and second in total yards.


Brian Urlacher helped lead the Bears to their first NFC North Division title in 2005.
"He's the best player on the best defense, bottom line," said safety Mike Brown. "He makes a lot of impact plays, but just him being on the field, teams have to scheme against him. They have to do different things to stay away from him because he's a great player.

"He's the leader of our team and we count on him to make a whole bunch of plays and he's done that this year. He should be the defensive MVP."

Urlacher was the landslide winner of the award, drawing 34 of 50 votes from a nationwide panel of sportswriters and broadcasters who cover the NFL.

Defensive end Alex Brown, cornerback Nathan Vasher and linebacker Lance Briggs all received one vote apiece, making the Bears the only team with more than one player to draw consideration.

Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney finished a distant second with four votes. Others who received votes included Steelers safety Troy Polamalu (3), Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora (2), Cardinals safety Adrian Wilson (2), Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey (1) and Jaguars defensive tackle Marcus Stroud (1).

Urlacher is the second Bears player to win the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award, joining Hall of Fame middle linebacker Mike Singletary, who was honored in 1985 and '88.

The Bears were 0-7 in games that Urlacher missed with leg and hamstring injuries in 2004. A year later, their surprise worst-to-first turnaround from 5-11 to 11-5 was due in part to the fact that their marquee player remained healthy all season.

Urlacher made an immediate impact after arriving as the ninth pick in the 2000 draft from New Mexico. He became just the second Bears rookie to lead the team in tackles and was recognized by his teammates as the rookie recipient of the prestigious Brian Piccolo Award.

Urlacher scored his only two NFL touchdowns in 2001 on a 90-yard fumble return at Atlanta and a 27-yard pass on a fake field goal at Washington and his 214 tackles in 2002 remain the most by a Bears player since tackle totals first started being recorded in 1971.

In 2004, Urlacher became just the fifth player in Bears history to be selected to the Pro Bowl in each of his first four seasons, joining Rick Casares, Mike Ditka, Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers.

Check ChicagoBears.com later for expanded coverage of this story.

How many can you win in one year?

lol. Good catch!

urlacher was good, but i dont think he was Defensive player of the year. Even on that team, Briggs or even Vasher are just as deserving. But, hes the face of the team, so whatever.

Sorry not to trash the writing I just laughed when I read that. Good article, not that I agree 100%. He is good, don't get me wrong, but heck I don't even remember his name being called on the xmas day game.

Urlacher is a machine for the Bears...hard to believe that he played safety in college looking at him now. Vasher and Briggs did have good years and could have been strong candidates as well but it would be hard to make any argument that Urlacher wasn't deserving of this award IMO.

pffft


Nick Collins!!!!

Also it was heard this morning that Lovie Smith was coach of the year as well.