Chicago Bears: Brian Urlacher offers criticism of Robert Quinn deal

The Chicago Bears made the Robert Quinn acquisition official. Teaming Quinn with Khalil Mack, they now have two All-Pro edge rushers going after quarterbacks in 2020. The thought of having those two rush the quarterback makes Bears fans salivate.

The signing also gives the Bears one of the toughest and best front seven in all of the NFL. In addition to Mack and Quinn, the Bears have Akiem Hicks, Eddie Goldman, Bilal Nichols, Roquan Smith, and Danny Trevathan.

In addition to having a strong front seven, the Bears also have a young unit. The average age of the seven players is 27 years old. They could be creating havoc for quite some time.

This front seven makes Chicago Bears fans salivate and hope for the season to start (hopefully we have a season to watch).

One person who doesn’t feel the same, however, is Hall of Fame linebacker Brian Urlacher. Urlacher played 13 seasons for the Bears and was a 2018 inductee to the Hall of Fame.

Urlacher wasn’t impressed much with the deal.

This isn’t a knock on the player, [but] I didn’t love the signing of Robert Quinn. I liked him, he had a great season last year, really good football player. I just – you paid Khalil [Mack] all this money, he gets all this money…[D]o you need to spend that much money on another guy up front?

Urlacher went on to say that with a healthy Hicks the defense didn’t need a high-priced option like Quinn. The problem is the Bears had someone there who just didn’t get the job done.

Leonard Floyd played with Mack and Hicks as his teammates for two seasons, yet recorded just seven sacks and 23 quarterback hits. In that same period, Quinn recorded 18 sacks and 37 quarterback hits.

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It appears that the Chicago Bears want to overwhelm opposing offenses. By doing that, they put enough pressure on quarterbacks, they’ll make mistakes. When this happens, the Bears have a pretty good secondary as well so they’ll have opportunities at turnovers.

The Bears used that formula to earn a 12-4 record and the NFC North title. They had 27 interceptions and 20 fumble recoveries, and the defense scored 6 touchdowns.

With a healthy Hicks and Trevathan, and with Quinn, this defense could create even more turnovers than they did in 2018. Sorry, Mr. Urlacher, but adding Quinn makes this defense go from elite to scary.