‘A Pain in the A-- to Defend’: Brian Urlacher Talks Caleb Williams, Bears’ 2025 Season

Brian Urlacher knows what it’s like to have success in Chicago. Despite never winning the big one, the 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee led the Bears to an appearance in Super Bowl XLI, was named a First-Team All-Pro four times, and won the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year award in 2005.

Now retired, Urlacher continues to pay close attention to the franchise that he helped win four NFC North titles in the early 2000s. The now-47-year-old admits that coming into 2025, he wasn't sure what to expect from the team, but is "super proud" of how they performed throughout the campaign. And when it comes to the face of the franchise, Caleb Williams? Urlacher was candid about just how difficult it is to defend a quarterback with his skill set.

“A pain in the a--, honestly, going against a guy like that,” Urlacher said of Williams, while speaking with Sports Illustrated ahead of his participation in this weekend's 2026 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, the LPGA’s season-opening event. “He does everything well. The things he does off-script ... you just can’t prepare for that.”

On the year, Williams completed just 58.1% of his passes—the lowest among starting quarterbacks—for 3,942 yards, but also accounted for 30 total touchdowns, threw only seven interceptions, and guided the Bears to an 11–6 record and an NFC North title. Six of those wins came via fourth-quarter comebacks—which led the league—highlighting the signal-callers' resilience throughout the season.

“I think he plays his best when the play breaks down," Urlacher added on Williams. "Obviously on time he’s great as well, he’s got a great arm. He understands the offense, knows what he’s supposed to do. But when things don’t go right, or there’s a bad call—as Ben said after the game, sometimes I make bad calls—he makes [it] right.”

“It’s nice to have a player with that ability ... ” he continued. “He runs smart, he gets out of bounds, he’ll slide. But man, he’s just so damn quick in the pocket ... He’s done things, the fourth-and-4 last week, the 4th and goal, whatever it was. No business making that play, he makes it. Then the week before versus Green Bay that throw he makes on fourth-and-8 to Rome [Odunze] on the sideline there, there’s no business making that play either. The things he does off the script are pretty incredible.”

Defensively, Chicago was a middle- to back-of-the-pack unit throughout this season, allowing the fifth-most yards per game (361.8) and the 10th-most points per game (24.4). In the takeaways department, however, the Bears were the best—logging 33 total turnovers (most in the NFL) and the league's top turnover differential (+22).

“I don’t see why you can’t [with turnovers],” said Urlacher. “It is a recipe for success. We did it my whole career there. When Lovie [Smith] got there we were close to the top of the league in takeaways every single year, so I don’t see why that can’t be a part of your defense. If you think about it, and you practice it, and you do it, it becomes a staple of what you do. That’s what they did this year. They didn’t get any in the playoff game and they still played pretty damn good versus the Rams. They didn’t get any takeaways but they still were in the game, gave up 17 points. So they can play defense without getting the takeaways, but you’re gonna have a better chance to win [if you do].”

In the end, despite Williams failing to notch the Bears’ first 4,000-plus-yard passing season in history, and the team ultimately coming up short of their end goal—a Super Bowl—Urlacher believes Chicago is headed in the right direction both at quarterback and head coach.

“What a turnaround Ben [Johnson] made for this team. He got Caleb believing, and I think really the whole team believing they could win ... And I don’t think all the pieces are in place yet, I think they have some work to do still, but they’ve got a quarterback finally and haven’t been able to say that for a long time about Chicago football. And a head coach. I think that’s pretty evident that he’s the guy for the job.”

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