[bears9]

For weeks, fans and media have watched Bears All-Pro linebacker Brian Urlacher and wondered, "What's wrong with the heart and soul of that Bears defense?" The question has been asked week in and week out and Urlacher has refused to address the question..Until now.
In an exclusive interview with FOX Sports, Urlacher finally revealed he's been fighting through a back injury that's caused pain and problems.
"It's a problem that started all the way back in camp," Urlacher said. "We've done x-rays, bone scans, MRI's, cat scans and this week I flew to Pittsburgh and met with a specialist. He confirmed what the team told me, that they think it's an arthritis type of thing. The thing that's so frustrating is there is no clear-cut solution to give me relief. I just have to deal with the pain."
Dealing with pain has been his only option, albeit a frustrating one. While other teams, fans and media have watched Urlacher play with an obvious obstacle, none has realized the extent of the injury he's been dealing with.
"The pain is actually worse than when I tore my hamstring a couple of years ago," he revealed. "That injury was worse because I missed games, but this causes more pain. It prevents me from bending and if I can't bend, I'm not able to be as athletic. I also can't backpedal like I need to. Right now we're trying to find pain solutions, I've got it shot a bunch to try to find some relief and actually it felt better last week.
"The frustrating thing is they can't pinpoint it exactly so I have no idea when it will hurt or hold me back, but the pain is pretty much always there."
Urlacher has been grilled by the media, and rather than open up he's bristled at questions and been standoffish, to say the least. In fact, he has even gone as far as limiting his answers to one-word responses.
"I haven't wanted to talk about it because I don't want it to be an excuse," Urlacher said. "Look, I'm out there, and if I'm out there playing I didn't want it out because I didn't want it used as an excuse by me or anybody else. I'm playing hurt, I'm not playing as well as I want to and they want me to explain everything. "But I decided to open up about this because the media didn't like my answers and started saying I was doing a disservice to the fans. But the fans aren't the ones getting ticked about my answers. The fans aren't the ones who I'm trying to avoid. I just don't want to talk about an injury where there are no answers. But when the media throws the fan angle in, I'm talking. That's what I'm doing now. Don't use the fan excuse with me."

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That is a FOX Sports article, I'm crying more than I was during the game