Brian Urlacher: The Lions Don’t Play Very Well When They Get Beat Up

The Lions have quickly become the bad boys of the NFL.  Led by the controversial play of Ndamukong Suh, their defense has developed a reputation as a dirty — albeit effective — bunch.  With the way the NFL has become such a pass-happy league that hinges on offense, having such an aggressive defense has become a useful tool for Detroit.  It was the veteran defense of the Chicago Bears, however, that showed the Lions’ young guys how to play smash mouth football on Sunday.

During an interview with ESPN Radio Chicago that Sports Radio Interviews shared with us, Brian Urlacher was asked if the Lions did a lot of chirping during Chicago’s 37-13 victory.  The Bears captain implied that the mini-brawl that broke out during the game may have helped the Bears.

“Their defense was saying something to our sideline late in the game after D.J. Moore beat up [Matthew Stafford],” Urlacher said. “They said some stuff to our sidelines. I don’t know what…their defense was saying something to our sidelines. I don’t know what it was, but there is ways to handle things and there is ways to not handle things. I don’t know…they are a good football team. No doubt about that. They don’t do very good when they get beat up I guess.”

It should be noted that neither team really “won” the fight as there wasn’t an actual fight, but Chicago definitely came up with a perfect recipe for beating the Lions.  Detroit is a young team that feeds off its energy and aggression, and as soon as the Bears showed them they were going to hit harder and out-hustle them Detroit’s game plan went out the window.  In that sense, Urlacher’s assessment is 100 percent accurate.