The Bears had just lost a home playoff game to the Panthers in which receiver Steve Smith torched them for 218 yards and two scores. Tillman defended Smith on the first touchdown. Smith faked a hitch inside. Tillman slipped. Smith soared. Fifty-eight yards later Smith was in the end zone.
"I remember calling or texting Brian Urlacher after the playoff game in ’05," Tillman told me last week. "I said, ‘Hey, that game, that’s my bad. It won’t happen again.’ It’s not like I had my best playoff game against the Panthers.