Urlacher to sit out against Cardinals

Seems to me that the word "minor" is being overused by people talking about Brian Urlacher's latest injury.

Bears coach Lovie Smith, Urlacher himself and everyone else willing to talk about it insist that the strained left calf Urlacher suffered in last Saturday's exhibition loss to Oakland is no big deal. Yet Urlacher hasn't practiced since, won't play Saturday night versus Arizona in the most critical game of the exhibition season and may not play in the fourth preseason game the following weekend.

I know Urlacher is very familiar with playing middle linebacker and with the Cover-2 defense the Bears have employed since Smith came to town. If anyone on the defense knows his role, it's Urlacher. Yet after he missed 15 1/2 of the Bears' 16 games last season with a dislocated wrist, I'd feel a lot more comfortable if he got his feet wet this time around.

We saw how the Bears defense performed last season with Urlacher sidelined. With the possible exception of Tommie Harris in the 3-technique, Urlacher's position is the most important in the entire defense. He covers basically everything in the middle of the field. Hunter Hillenmeyer does not have the speed to cover the kind of ground Urlacher does, and the Bears are going to pay for it more often than not if he's a step slow or a step out of position this fall.