Bears-Eagles Matchup Could Be An Urlacher-Vick Matchup
Michael Vick might be one of the five best athletes in the NFL. The rest of the players on the list are most likely receivers or defensive back. Because of Vick's athleticism, he's a very difficult quarterback to game plan against. But the Bears might have the defense and linebacker to shut Vick down.
"The Bears have one advantage against Mike Vick, in that they have probably as much speed on that defense as anybody in the NFL. And I'm talking about speed up front," Hub Arkush said on the Mully and Hanley Show. "Everybody has DBs who can run, but nobody has a defensive end who can run like [Julius] Peppers and nobody has a linebacker who can run like [Brian] Urlacher.
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While the Bears have stayed pretty healthy all season, the injury to Pisa Tinoisamoa could hurt them.
"This is a game, where as much as Nick Roach is a nice football player, you'd really love to Tinoisamoa back. But I think that, in many respects, this is going to be an Urlacher-Vick matchup. Because even though they say you can't spy Vick, that's because nobody has the athletic ability to do it. I'd be very surprised if Brian Urlacher doesn't have some sort of spying responsibilities on Mike Vick."
Being realistic, you can't expect a 258 pound Urlacher to run with Vick step to step. And you don't need him too. All you need Urlacher to do is slow Vick down and limit what he's capable of doing.
"Now I'm not saying that Urlacher is as fast as Vick," Arkush said. "But a man that big, moving that fast, with the right angle, that's a pretty good matchup."
