Four members of the Chicago Bears football team have been selected to the 2008 Pro Bowl: LB Lance Briggs, DT Tommie Harris, KR Devin Hester, and special teams selection Brendon Ayanbadejo. Check ChicagoBears.com later today for more on this story.

I'm surprised but not surprised Urlacher didn't make it..

Wow,

Urlacher had more tackles, sacks, interceptions, and passes defended than Briggs.

 

Also, that is going to cost a team some more cash to sign Briggs now.

 

Hester seemed like the only lock.

Adrian Peterson is the only reason why the NFC has a shot to win.

i know the bears D has gotten shredded this year, which is why guys like tillman get no respect...but tillman deserves to go...its been maybe his best year

I don't think anyone on our 29th ranked defense deserves to be called a pro bowler quite frankly. Hester and Brendan were the only deserving candidates IMO.

Sorry but Harris has not been that great this year..Tillman does deserve to go before Harris and Briggs. Who the hell voted for Briggs? LOL! Must be his agent trying to get more cash.

Harris made it on reputation and just being a freakin beast even though he has played, at best, 80? healthy all season. 7 sacks is nothing to scoff at for a DT.

 

Briggs is a beast and deserved to go. And Hester and Ayanbadejo were pretty much locks.

 

Tillman and Urlacher deserved recognition as well. And even though this is a down season for Urlacher, he still has 107 tackles, 5 sacks, and 3 INT's.

Four members of the Chicago Bears football team have been selected to the 2008 Pro Bowl: LB Lance Briggs, DT Tommie Harris, KR Devin Hester, and special teams selection Brendon Ayanbadejo. Check ChicagoBears.com later today for more on this story.

I got to admit, I'm surprisd that Urlacher or Ogunleye didn't make it. I'm also surprised Tommie made it out there. Maybe he is still playing pretty damn good (I figured on one leg, based on what I saw that he wasn't playing at a pro bowl level). Briggs had a good season and there is no arguing the Special Team selections.

I thought Ogunleye had a great year, but I don't necessarily think it was a Pro Bowl-worthy year. 7 NFC defensive ends had more sacks, and that stat alone probably worked against him, especially in the fan voting. He did force 6 fumbles, which is good for 3rd most in the NFL (and 1st most among DEs). That's impressive, but it's a stat that's often overlooked. Similarly, Tillman had 4 forced fumbles which led all NFL CBs. However, he was lacking in interceptions, which is again the category that gets the most consideration. I thought he had a good year as well, particularly given that he didn't have the benefit of having Nathan Vasher at the other corner. Tillman's underrated. Hopefully, he'll be rewarded with a Pro Bowl trip next year (or this year if substitutes are needed). If I had to name the biggest snubs, Ogunleye and Tillman would probably be the two guys I'd pick. Urlacher would be in the mix too, but arthritic back or not, he didn't quite play up to his reputation this year, so it's understandable that he was passed up. It might be better that he rest his back rather than try to play in the Pro Bowl anyway.

BEARS IN BRIEF:

Favre 'shocked' by lack of Pro Bowl support for Urlacher

 

December 20, 2007

BY BRAD BIGGS bbiggs@suntimes.com

Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre was more surprised than any of Brian Urlacher's teammates were about the Bears middle linebacker's exclusion from the Pro Bowl.

 

If Favre only knew how far Urlacher was from being named to the NFC team.

 

While Urlacher handily won the fan portion of the Pro Bowl voting at inside linebacker, he was just about blanked by players and coaches, whose votes also count for one-third each. ESPN.com's John Clayton tracks the information every season, and in addition to starter Lofa Tatupu of Seattle and backup Patrick Willis of San Francisco, there are at least three alternates ahead of Urlacher: Green Bay's Nick Barnett, Minnesota's E.J. Henderson and Washington's London Fletcher.

 

''He didn't make it?'' Favre said. ''I'm a little bit shocked by that. I think he, as well as Nick Barnett, deserve it. I watched the game [Monday] night, and Urlacher made every play. Now, they've come to expect that from him, as most people have, which is not always the case. You're not always going to make every play.

 

''I know when you go into a game with Chicago, [it's] 'We can't let this guy make every play.' Lance Briggs is a heck of a football player, too, and we fought that last game. Tommie Harris is a fantastic player. But if you want to call the middle linebacker the quarterback of the defense, then he is that guy. You can't blink one second because he'll make a play on you.

 

''I'm shocked, but I'm sure their record has more to do with it than anything else. I don't think it's lack of production.''