The combined Bears careers of Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher produced 15 Pro Bowls, 56 sacks, 38 interceptions and more than 2,500 tackles. It also produced a lifetime friendship.
“It was a real relationship,” coach Lovie Smith told NBC Sports Chicago.
Smith inherited Briggs and Urlacher when he succeeded Dick Jauron in 2004 and both flourished under Smith and his staff.
“There was no jealousy, none of that," Smith said. "They just worked so well together.”
Very well, in fact. The Bears ranked in the top 10 defensively in both points and yards allowed in five of the 10 seasons in which Briggs and Urlacher played together.