The Cover-2 did play to his stregnths. Back when he still had that amazing lateral movement and very good recovery speed.Halas85 wrote:This is, what, the fifth season in a defense based around the philosophies of the Cover-2? Yet, this year he's struggling to make any type of impact. In past seasons, he still managed to make his presence felt, racking up tackles, deflecting passes, pulling in the occasional INT, forcing the occasional fumble, etc. Now I don't expect this from him every game, but even a big tackle now and then would be nice to see. But we've basically gotten nothing from him this season that sets him apart as the great player we've come accustomed to seeing.
So I'm not buying the argument that the Cover-2 is ruining his career. In many ways, the Cover-2 plays toward his strengths: his quickness, his ability to cover the field from sidelines to sideline, etc. Urlacher never was particularly great at busting through blockers for the sack or taking on blockers head-on. He seems to be at his best in the open field when he can turn the burners on, chase down runners and cover RBs/TEs. The bottom line is there's something wrong with this guy. I'm not a big fan of the Cover-2 either, but no scheme has ever taken tackles and impact plays from Urlacher in the past.
He no longer is anything more then above average at those things.
If this defense is going to play at a high level week to week its going to have to happen based on the play of #91. If he plays at an All-Pro level the defense will look good. If he plays inconsistant like he has for the most part, then look for the Bears Defense to be inconsistant and average.