If the NFC Pro Bowl roster didn’t include kick returner Jerry Azumah, the team would have had reason to re-count every dimpled chad in the NFL’s ballot boxes.
If center Olin Kreutz had been omitted after a season in which his combination of muscle and moxie held together a patched-up offensive line like caulk, it could have been considered an upset.
But not many people outside Halas Hall would have been shocked if linebacker Brian Urlacher didn’t make the team for the first time in his four NFL seasons.
Sure, Urlacher has a team-leading 136 tackles this season–35 that have been added to official totals after the coaches’ film review. But he hasn’t sacked a quarterback since Oct. 5 and may have struggled, in relative terms, as teams have designed more blocking schemes aimed directly at him.
“I don’t think stats really tell everything. Sometimes you have a lot of tackles, sometimes you don’t,” Urlacher said. “But if you play hard and have great effort, good things happen.”
Effort and attitude had as much to do with Azumah’s first Pro Bowl berth as his blazing speed. Azumah only started returning kicks the fourth game after he lost his starting cornerback job to Charles Tillman.
“It was just an internal battle with me,” said Azumah, who praised his blockers. “I knew I had it in me.”
With only four career kickoff returns entering this season, Azumah displayed the instinct and abandon that made him a Division I-AA All-American at New Hampshire. He leads the NFL in returns with a 30.3 average and has scored two touchdowns, the only NFC return man to do so.
Kreutz took pride in his third straight Pro Bowl appearance, even if outwardly he appeared unfazed.
“It’s always a nice honor when they vote you in,” Kreutz said. “But you’d always rather win.”
Bears Pro Bowlers (but can they handle the 7-10 split?)
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Edited by the Sports staff of RedEye.
