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We've spent a good part of this week discussing feuds of varying degrees, from the dissipating animosity between Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers to the now-healed relationship between Mike Ditka and the Chicago Bears. Those situations have me thinking: Is there any healing to do between the Bears and now-retired linebacker Brian Urlacher?

Here's what we know: Urlacher was angry when the Bears announced in March that the sides had failed to reach a contract agreement. Urlacher told ESPN Radio at the time that "it got a little personal there at the end," decrying the "lip service" the Bears employed to say they wanted him back when their offer -- one year for $2 million -- suggested otherwise.

In announcing his retirement two months later, Urlacher said "everything is fine" now but reiterated that he didn't appreciate how the Bears handled negotiations. Speaking to ESPN 1000, Urlacher singled out one unnamed person for blame and had this to say:

"Everything is fine. Of course I was [ticked] when that happened. I felt like I deserved better, and I just wish they would have been honest with me. If someone would have told me, 'Hey, you know what, we want you here but we want you here for this number. We don't want your agent to make an offer. Here's what we have to offer you. We want to get younger, but we want to keep you here for another year or two maybe see what happens if you play well.'

"That was never a discussion. ... I felt like it was kind of beating around the bush there, and if they had been honest and straightforward with me that would have been great. I think it would have been a lot easier to make that decision, but they weren't so it kind of [ticked] me off. But I'm good. Ninety-nine percent of the people in that building [Halas Hall] I respect, I have the utmost respect for. There's one person I could really take or leave."

Speaking on ESPN 1000 this week, ESPNChicago.com's Jeff Dickerson identified the "one person" as general manager Phil Emery. To be clear, the general manager has ultimate authority over football operations, so it's not unusual for departing players to blame him for decisions or their execution. As we discussed in March, I think the Bears made the right call to move on from Urlacher but was surprised they went to the lengths they did -- lip service or otherwise -- in negotiations.

The Bears took out full-page advertisements Friday in the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, writing: "Few play for a storied franchise. Even fewer write their own chapter. Thanks, Brian." In the end, if Urlacher has the "utmost respect" for 99 percent of the people who work at the Bears, then on the NFL scale his departure ranks as a lovefest.

» NFC Eight in the Box: East | West | North | South » AFC: East | West | North | South

How does each NFC North team look at running back, and what still needs to be done?

Chicago Bears: If you were drawing up plans for an experienced but diverse backfield, you could do a lot worse than modeling after the Bears. Starter Matt Forte is a shifty off-tackle runner and one of the NFL's top pass-catching running backs, a collection of skills that will fit neatly into new coach Marc Trestman's offense. Forte has caught 267 passes since his career started in 2008, the third-most in the NFL by a running back over that stretch. Backup Michael Bush, meanwhile, is a bigger and stronger inside threat who gives the Bears a better option in short-yardage and goal-line situations. He produced a first down on 24.6 percent of his rushes last season, according to ESPN Stats & Information, the 10th-best percentage in the NFL. As long as Forte and Bush are healthy, the Bears' relatively thin depth behind them is irrelevant.

Detroit Lions: Free-agent acquisition Reggie Bush figures to benefit from opponents' attention on receiver Calvin Johnson to much greater extent than the Lions' backfield did last season. Early indications are the Lions will use Bush similarly to the way the New Orleans Saints did earlier in his career. With the Saints in 2006, Bush caught 88 passes. Training camp should bring competition for the right to be the "thumper" behind Bush. Will it be 2011 second-round draft choice Mikel Leshoure, who looked slow and not very elusive after returning last season from a torn Achilles tendon? (No NFL running back had as many touches as Leshoure without at least one play of at least 20 yards.) Or will it be the lesser-known Joique Bell, who as Pro Football Focus points out, made defenders miss regularly last season. He forced 26 missed tackles in 82 carries and actually averaged more yards after contact (2.99) than Bush did with the Miami Dolphins (2.06).

Green Bay Packers: The team re-made its backfield through the draft after years of transition, throwing the situation into unknown territory. At some point, the Packers will have to thin the herd of a group that includes returnees DuJuan Harris, James Starks, Alex Green and John Kuhn, along with rookies Eddie Lacy and Johnathan Franklin. The competition is wide open, although both Starks and Green have failed when given previous opportunities. Lacy's build and pedigree suggests he has an excellent chance to ultimately win the starting job, but Harris impressed the team late last season and could get the first shot this summer.

Minnesota Vikings: Adrian Peterson. Is there much more to say? Historically, runners who put together a 2,000-yard season tend to fall back the following year. But nothing about Peterson's career suggests he will fit neatly into a trend. He has set a goal of 2,500 yards, and however unrealistic it might be, he has earned the benefit of the doubt. Backup Toby Gerhart is in his fourth and presumably last season as Peterson's understudy. While Gerhart hasn't shown much explosion in short stints in Peterson's place, you would think he'll want to look elsewhere for more carries when his contract expires after this season.

Mike Ditka's final season as a player for the Chicago Bears was in 1966. His last season as their coach was 1992. So why did it take 47 years after his departure as a player, and 21 years after his final season as the coach, to retire the number of one of the most recognizable figures in team history?

A small part of the explanation could be the sheer size and breadth of the Bears' history. Before retiring Ditka's No. 89, a move the team announced Friday, the Bears already had the most retired numbers in the NFL (Ditka's is the team's 14th). I chuckled Friday morning when punter Adam Podlesh tweeted: "BREAKING: The NFL finally gives Bears the nod to use fractions and decimal points on jerseys after the last whole number is retired #iwantpi"

If you retired every deserving number in Bears history, there wouldn't be many left over for the current team.

But I think we all know that more than numbers were in play here. Ditka alluded to it during a morning appearance on ESPN Radio, noting the efforts of Bears chairman George McCaskey to reach out after succeeding his brother, Michael, in 2011. Michael McCaskey, of course, was running the Bears when Ditka was fired as coach.

"I never left" the Bears organization, Ditka said, but added: "I think what happened is they made a decision based on what they wanted to do. They had a right to make that decision. It hurts. It always hurts when there is a separation or divorce.

"But when George took over running the Bears and he called me, him and [team president] Ted Phillips and I met with him. I think [the meeting] was so cordial. George is a special guy. He probably had a little bit more vision than somebody else. But that didn't matter. That's not important to me. Whatever it is, it is. … I am very, very honored. That's the bottom line."

The ceremony will take place Dec. 9 at Soldier Field, when the Bears will host a "Monday Night Football" game (on ESPN!) against the Dallas Cowboys. It should be a great night.

Note: The video of Ditka's radio appearance is at the top of this post. Here is the link to the audio version if you prefer that.

We're Black and Blue All Over:

Thursday, we broached the topic of whether the Chicago Bears would retire the number of middle linebacker Brian Urlacher. As it turns out, the team is dealing with a backlog on that issue.

Almost a half-century after playing his final game with the team, Mike Ditka will have his No. 89 retired this season, according to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune. (The Bears have since confirmed the report.) As Biggs explains, Ditka has had his ups and downs with the franchise after both his playing career and coaching tenure the latter of which brought the Bears a Super Bowl championship in 1985.

It's the first such gesture by the Bears since 1994.

Modern-day fans might remember Ditka as a coach, but I wonder how many know that he was the No. 5 overall pick of the 1961 draft and went to five Pro Bowls in his first six seasons. He was a two-time All-Pro, still ranks first on the Bears' all-time receiving list for tight ends and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988.

Congratulations to Da Coach, who is now an ESPN analyst.

Let's continue our morning tour around the NFC North:

• Former Bears coach Lovie Smith on Urlacher, via ESPNChicago.com: "[H]is physical play is just a small part of what made Brian great. People knew he called our defense, but his intelligence was never given its just due. His understanding of the game is among the best who has ever played it."
• Former NFL quarterback Rich Gannon on playing for Bears coach Marc Trestman, via Adam L. Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times: "The big thing for Jay Cutler is just realizing that you have an unbelievable opportunity here to work with a guy who has really had success with quarterbacks. You have to ask yourself, 'Why has he had this success?'"
• Detroit Lions cornerback Chris Greenwood, who missed his rookie year because of an injury, is ready for his second chance. More from Anwar S. Richardson of Mlive.com.
• Lions special-teams ace Ashlee Palmer is hoping for an expanded role on defense this season, writes Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.
• Technique development is the first step for Detroit Lions defensive end Ziggy Ansah, according to Justin Rogers of Mlive.com.
• Former Green Bay Packers president Bob Harlan has plenty to keep him busy in retirement, writes Lori Nickel of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
• Pete Dougherty of the Green Bay Press-Gazette: "Nick Perry’s rookie season wasn’t a total injury washout, but the Green Bay Packers still can’t say he’s successfully made the transition from a college defensive end to a 3-4 outside linebacker in the NFL."
• Vikings defensive end Jared Allen knows that 2013 could be his final year with the team. Allen, via Dan Wiederer of the Star Tribune: "I pray about it. I talk to my wife. And we'll end up going where the good Lord takes us. But I don’t know where that path is headed."
• Ben Goessling of the St. Paul Pioneer Press has an interesting profile of new Vikings punter Jeff Locke, who is an intellect in his own right.

I liked what I heard -- er, read -- from Detroit Lions tight end Brandon Pettigrew this week. As Tim Twentyman of the Lions' website writes, Pettigrew has pledged to rectify the series of negative plays he made last season.

"I can't put what I did [last year] on anyone else," he said. "I take it upon myself to fix the drops or missed blocks, the plays that weren't made, the fumbles. That's on me and I take it upon myself. It's my problem to fix."

Pettigrew fumbled four times in 2012, losing two of them, and dropped eight passes, according to ESPN Stats & Information. When converted to a percentage via targets, the chart shows that Pettigrew had the third-worst drop percentage among NFL tight ends. In fact, his rate of 8.2 percent was the 10th-worst among all pass-catchers in 2012.

Pettigrew had only fumbled once in his previous three seasons, but I think it's important to remember that drops have been a career-long issue. Drop totals can be subjective, but ESPN Stats & Information had him with six in 118 targets in 2011 and nine drops in 104 targets in 2010.

Overall, Pettigrew's 23 drops over the past three seasons are the third-highest total among NFL pass-catchers over that period. The only players with more are receivers Wes Welker (26) and Brandon Marshall (24). Together, they have been targeted on 300 more passes than Pettigrew.

Meanwhile, his drop percentage over the past three years is 7.2 percent, the fourth-highest in the league.

We all know Pettigrew is a strong blocker, and when he is able to secure the ball, good things usually happen. But drops have without question held him back from being an elite tight end, and it's good to know he realizes it and is doing his best to address the problem.

Oh.

My.

GOD.

If I see one more story or hear one more radio interview about the much-suggested but still-unplanned reunion between the Green Bay Packers and Brett Favre, why, I'm going to pack up my blogger uniform, head down to my ranch, start cutting the grass and not come back until the rest of ESPN.com's blog network team flies down in a private plane and begs me to resume as a favor to them.

(Starting right after this blog post, of course.)

This is the story driven by corrupted memories. In the event that you are among those who have forgotten, Favre said in September that he was over any grudge he might have held against the franchise.

In February, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers invited Favre to a joint appearance that made clear they have moved past the tension in their relationship.

Two months ago, Packers president Mark Murphy said that Rodgers had taken "a good first step" on behalf of the franchise and pledged that the reunion "is going to happen."

The ball is and will remain in the Packers' court. At some point, presumably before Favre is eligible for enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016, Murphy and the rest of the Packers' leadership will reach out and schedule an event. Really, the fact everyone appears to be on board -- Favre's grudge is gone, Rodgers and Favre cleared the air and Murphy promised an appropriate event -- suggests an indirect reconciliation in itself.

I think we can all rest confidently that the rest will happen. It's just a matter of time. Patience is still a virtue, I think.

To this point of the offseason, the Minnesota Vikings have elected to carry untouched the largest salary-cap hit for a non-quarterback in the NFL. Despite his cap charge of $17.063 million, defensive end Jared Allen told the Star Tribune recently that "we haven't talked one iota" about a contract extension that would lower that figure.

So what does that mean about Allen's future with the team? Based on what is known at the moment, it's not outlandish to suggest that the Vikings plan to part ways with Allen when his contract expires after the 2013 season.

Of course, the team could always initiate discussions later this summer or even during the season. Otherwise, the only explanation for not lowering Allen's cap number via an extension now is that they don't want to commit to future years with him.

We've noted several times how serious general manager Rick Spielman has been about maintaining a youthful roster. Allen turned 31 in April. He is only one year removed from a 22-sack season, but his sack total dropped to 12 in 2012 as he played with a torn labrum in his shoulder.

Since taking over as general manager in January 2012, Spielman has bid farewell to more than a half-dozen longtime veterans, including guard Steve Hutchinson, linebacker E.J. Henderson, cornerback Antoine Winfield, tight end Visanthe Shiancoe, place-kicker Ryan Longwell and punter Chris Kluwe. As of today, Allen is one of four players on the Vikings' 90-man roster who are older than 30.

Allen remains one of the NFL's most feared pass-rushers, and as we sit here today, it's hard to project he will be anywhere close to a steep decline after the 2013 season. But if given the choice, it sure appears that Spielman prefers to err on the side of parting ways too early than too late. If nothing else, he has protected that option with Allen to this point by choosing the cap number over an extension.

Only five players in the NFL have higher 2013 cap figures than Allen, and all of them are quarterbacks. The Vikings are managing at the moment because they have a quarterback (Christian Ponder) playing under the terms of a rookie contract. If you told me the Vikings' working plan is to get everything they can from Allen in 2013 and then move on, I wouldn't be stunned. I'm sure they haven't made a final decision, but I think we can say that the most obvious one remains very much in play.

All we know for sure is that on May 21 -- more than two months before training camp and 109 days before the start of the regular season -- Mike Neal was working as an outside linebacker during a Green Bay Packers organized team activity (OTA).

Does that mean Neal has a new position? Or is this simply a spring experiment? I doubt even the Packers have an answer to that question yet.

Neal has been a defensive end for the past three years, and despite his well-chronicled athleticism, his listed weight of 294 pounds would be rare even in a 3-4 scheme. Based on his comments to local reporters Tuesday, Neal hasn't been asked to slim down or prepare in any other way for a new position.

Coach Mike McCarthy didn't provide specifics but seemed to confirm the Packers want to use Neal in different ways this season, referencing the way some teams ask defensive linemen to drop into coverage during zone blitzes.

Asked about having a 294-pound linebacker, McCarthy said: "It depends on how you use big guys in space. [You can have] a defensive end dropping in the fire zone, too. Schematically, we're going to do some different things. I want to expand Mike Neal's role. The specifics of that, I'm sure you can wait until Week 1 of the regular season to get into that."

Neal had his most productive season last year, finishing with 4.5 sacks, mostly because he was healthy enough to play in 11 games. But his path to a full-time role in 2013 is probably blocked, even with 2012 second-round pick Jerel Worthy recovering from an ACL tear. The Packers made defensive end Datone Jones their No. 1 draft pick last month, veteran Ryan Pickett is returning and the team plans to give Johnny Jolly a chance to resume his career after a three-year suspension.

Meanwhile, at least from the outside, the Packers seem set at outside linebacker with Clay Matthews, Nick Perry and Dezman Moses on the roster. Veteran Brad Jones has also played outside.

So what does this mean for Neal? The guess is the Packers want to use him in some of the hybrid roles that defensive coordinator Dom Capers is known for creating. The Minnesota Vikings attempted a similar experiment last season with defensive end Everson Griffen, who worked as a linebacker during part of training camp en route to a role that occasionally saw him working as a stand-up pass-rusher/linebacker.

In the end, this is the time of year to find out if a talented player can contribute in non-traditional ways, especially if the roster could be set up for others to fill the traditional roles. Mike Neal is athletic enough to do it. We'll see if he and the Packers can make it work.

We're Black and Blue All Over:

Now that we've dissected Brian Urlacher's retirement and assessed his chances at enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, we should ask the next question: Will the Bears retire his No. 54?

That issue might be more complicated than the Hall of Fame. It would seem a natural next step, but the Bears already have 13 numbers retired in a sport where 90 players are taken to training camp and 53 make the final roster. It's worth noting that the Bears never retired the No. 50 of Hall of Fame middle linebacker Mike Singletary and actually put it back into circulation this spring when they signed free-agent linebacker James Anderson.

I appreciate all of you bearing with us Wednesday after Urlacher's announcement. We will now return to regularly scheduled May football coverage, starting with our morning tour around the division after a crazy-busy day:

• Michael Wilbon of ESPNChicago.com thinks the Bears will be able to replace Urlacher even though they should have signed him for one more season: "If [Dick] Butkus can beget Singletary and he can beget Urlacher, presumptuous as it seems to say, the next great Chicago linebacker is out there, somewhere, waiting for the privilege to be accepted into the rarest of football fraternities."
• David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune: "For a guy who came from tiny Lovington, N.M., Urlacher ideally fit an image immediately embraced by our big, blue-collar town. The face of the Bears franchise should feature a square jaw. Urlacher looked like a meat packer and worked as if he signed a time card instead of autographs. From his first day as a Bear to his last, Urlacher never considered himself special, which perhaps was why he became that way. No athlete since Michael Jordan symbolized Chicago more than Urlacher."
• Urlacher maintained the Bears' tradition of middle linebackers, writes Rick Telander of the Chicago Sun-Times.
• Detroit Lions receiver Nate Burleson has resumed practicing, two months ahead of schedule, after recovering from a broken leg. Chris McCosky of the Detroit News has more.
• The Lions need Ndamukong Sun and Nick Fairley to step up as leaders, writes John Niyo of the News.
• The Lions' development of defensive end Willie Young and offensive lineman Jason Fox will be telling, writes Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press.
• Lions tight end Brandon Pettigrew, via Anwar S. Richardson of Mlive.com: "I definitely took a step back last year. Kind of dinged up a little bit. Being in there, you're still expected to make the plays. Personally, I think I took a step back last year. It's time to get back to it, to what we had built a year before, just being a better player."
• In case you missed it, Lions safety Louis Delmas isn't participating in organized team activities.
• Packers defensive lineman Johnny Jolly has completed a court-ordered drug treatment program and is now free to begin working out with the team, according to Chris Roth of WBAY-Ch. 2.
• Packers cornerback Tramon Williams has stepped up as the leader of the team's secondary, writes Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
• Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers told the Jim Rome radio show that he hopes the team retires Brett Favre's No. 4 before he goes into the Hall of Fame. Weston Hodkiewicz of the Green Bay Press-Gazette has the quotes.
• Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen said there has been no discussions about a contract extension, according to Dan Wiederer of the Star Tribune. Allen is entering the final year of his deal.
• The Vikings won't have Urlacher as their middle linebacker this season, notes Ben Goessling of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Catching up around the division Wednesday after Brian Urlacher's retirement illuminated at least one curious development.

Detroit Lions safety Louis Delmas isn't participating in organized team activities (OTAs), and not just simply to avoid wear and tear on his troublesome knees. According to what Lions coach Jim Schwartz told reporters, Delmas isn't able to participate.

"He's not here right now going through this stuff," Schwartz said. "But there's nothing that he could get out of this because he can't physically do the stuff that we're doing right now."

The news perpetuates the impression that Delmas has a chronic condition that could make it hard for him to play a full season, similar to his experience in 2011 and 2012.

He played in the Lions' final three regular-season games, so it's fair to wonder if he has suffered a new injury or had another surgery since then to put him in this position. The NFL does not require teams to report offseason injuries.

Regardless, nearly five months after he last played, Delmas isn't participating in a non-contact practice. That news wouldn't merit a blip on this blog, of course, were it not for Delmas' long injury history.

General manager Martin Mayhew acknowledged concern about Delmas' physical condition in February, and as we noted in March, the team re-signed Delmas to a two-year contract that was largely incentive-based. But it did include a $1 million signing bonus, an indication the Lions feel reasonably confident he will be available to them during the regular season. The good news is that Delmas has 3 1/2 months before Week 1 arrives.

It never seemed likely that the Minnesota Vikings would pursue Brian Urlacher in free agency, given their sharp turn toward youth over the past two years. And now it seems clear that Urlacher had little interest in a mercenary-style role with the Vikings or any other NFL team.

On the day he announced his retirement, Urlacher told ESPN 1000 that he could never get his mind around playing for another team and was especially averse to answering a midsummer emergency call. The Vikings are giving veteran Erin Henderson a spring look at the position, and the thought had been that only a season-ending injury or a complete flop would have prompted the Vikings to call Urlacher.

"I didn't want to put another jersey on for any other team," Urlacher said. "Obviously it wasn't going to be for the Bears this year, so I thought it was the right thing to do to shut it down. …

"We talked to every team in the NFL, and maybe in July or August it would have happened, but I'm not going to wait. I want to be somewhere where somebody wants me. I don't want to go somewhere where, 'Oh, so-and-so got hurt, we need you.' I don't want that to be the situation.

"The Bears offered me the contract they offered me, and that was probably the best contract I was going to get from anywhere. And I'm not going to put my body through what it goes through for what the offer was."

And for those of you wondering if Urlacher could be lured from retirement, he insisted he plans to file his retirement papers immediately and has no interest in a comeback.

You can listen to ESPN 1000's entire 20-minute interview here.

Reviewing the Pro Football Hall of Fame's list of middle linebackers is a sobering experience.

The position is well-represented, but almost all of the enshrinees -- Dick Butkus, Jack Lambert and Willie Lanier among them -- are drawn from a long-gone era of NFL defenses. In fact, former Chicago Bears star Mike Singletary is the only current Hall of Fame middle linebacker whose career started in the past 36 years.

The best case to be made for Brian Urlacher's candidacy, now that he has announced his retirement, is that his career reversed the decades-long decline in the value of the position. Along with the Baltimore Ravens' Ray Lewis, Urlacher modernized middle linebacking by adding speed and regular playmaking to the traditional role of helmet-jarring hits and fierce leadership.

Hall of Fame players can't simply be top performers over a period of NFL seasons. In a competitive environment where ballots are limited to five enshrinees per year, candidates must stand out. Some might be the best players in a generation, but if their position is as undervalued as middle linebacker has been over the past few decades, they also would need to have changed or impacted the game in a unique way.

I think Urlacher did that. It helped that he was drafted by a team that soon moved to a scheme that perfectly fit a middle linebacker who could run like a safety. It also helped that in his best years, Urlacher had some stud defensive tackles in front of him who limited free shots from offensive linemen.

Regardless, the Bears' defense in the Lovie Smith era wouldn't have worked without Urlacher covering the deep third of the field while also holding his own at the line of scrimmage. His ability to get 25 yards downfield, in between chasing runners from sideline to sideline, was a new development for the modern-day middle linebacker.

When Urlacher was sidelined, for 15 games in 2009 and four games last season, the Bears' defense dipped noticeably and obviously, especially against the pass. In the games that Urlacher missed over that stretch, opponents' Total Quarterback Rating (QBR) rose from 39.5 to 60.1 (on a scale of 0-100), according to ESPN Stats & Information.

He is one of four players in NFL history with at least 40 sacks and 20 interceptions in his career, as the chart shows, and he is one of seven players to win the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year award. Of the other six, three are in the Hall of Fame and two others aren't yet eligible.

Urlacher's résumé of sustained elite performances, even after his 2009 wrist injury, and his notable impact on how the game is played merit Hall of Fame enshrinement. How long it will take for him to be elected is almost a silly discussion. We don't know what the backlog will be like in 2018, but there is a pretty strong group of players who will be eligible for the first time alongside Urlacher. The group includes Lewis, Steve Hutchinson, Ronde Barber and perhaps Randy Moss.

Timing, of course, is but a detail. I'm sure there will be plenty of discussion between now and then. But you would think Canton has room for Brian Urlacher. Frankly, he made that space for himself.

Congratulations to the Arizona Cardinals, who for the time being at least have won the unofficial contest for best reaction to Brian Urlacher's retirement with this tweet:

You were who we thought you were. Congrats. RT @BUrlacher54: It was an honor to play my entire career for the @ChicagoBears.

The reference, of course, is to what almost certainly was the best game of Urlacher's career. In the Chicago Bears' legendary 24-23 victory over the Cardinals, Urlacher finished with 25 tackles (according to the Bears' coaching film), two quarterback hurries, two pass breakups and a forced fumble.

Afterward, then-Cardinals coach Dennis Green unloaded with his own legendary reaction, saying the Bears "are who we thought they were" and that the Cardinals "let them off the hook." It wasn't the proudest moment in Cardinals history, so kudos to them for making light of it to honor an opponent's retirement.

What made Brian Urlacher special? You have to start, of course, with the way a 6-foot-4, 258-pound man could run, hit and organize a defense on the field. But even an occasional in-person observer of the Chicago Bears over the past decade could notice the reverential stature Urlacher held with his teammates.

If he had enemies, they never surfaced. Urlacher mixed equal doses of dry humor, man's-man competitiveness and two-way respect to keep the Bears' locker room humming smoothly and largely conflict-free during his tenure. So in the moments after Urlacher announced his retirement, I caught up with former Bears defensive lineman Dusty Dvoracek -- who now hosts a sports radio talk show on The Sports Talk Network in Norman, Okla. -- to get a better sense for how Urlacher managed to cast such a popular web.

"Once you became a teammate of Brian Urlacher, you would get the best teammate you could ever ask for," Dvoracek said. "He was one of the biggest superstars in the NFL, but he acted like an average Joe, even to people coming in as a rookie. That matters to people and they don't forget it.

"The first week I was there, he opened up his house and invited me over. It wasn't just me. It was everybody. Not just me. Everybody. He tried to make it as easy and as comfortable for everyone. He was very accepting if you were on his team. He wanted you to do well so the team would do well."

In big media settings, of course, Urlacher could be as grumpy as any player I've covered. His answers could be short, snippy and designed to end the questioning altogether. I told Dvoracek that it was always fascinating to me that a player who seemed as cranky as Urlacher could be so universally hailed and beloved as a leader.

"He is about as opposite of that as you can be in personal life," Dvoracek said. "He really is as nice and as kindhearted a guy as you're going to find in the NFL. A lot of guys put on a show for [the] camera, and behind it they're a jerk. I don't want to say that Brian was the reverse because I don't think he was a jerk to the cameras, but what we saw behind the scenes was genuine and real.

"I mean, he really is a happy guy. He loves to compete at everything he does. He's good at everything. It ticks you off. Whether you're playing pingpong, shuffleboard, basketball or golf, he's really good at everything he does. He's super competitive but really just likes to have a good time with the guys."

Even competitors recognized and appreciated that approach. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers told the Chicago Tribune earlier this spring that "I always appreciated his ability to enjoy the game while being competitive. He plays the game with a lot of class and professionalism. He does it the right way."

Rodgers added that when playing the Bears, "you never had to worry about cheap shots around the pile or after the whistle. They played the right way and it was led by Brian."

Emotions always run high when a superstar retires, and those who spent time around him tend to wax nostalgic. They are already beginning the work toward cementing a legend. Based on what we've heard about Urlacher over the years, that work shouldn't be hard.

In the wake of Brian Urlacher's announcement that his 13th NFL season would be his last, current and former NFL players took to Twitter to send out tributes to the future Hall of Fame Bears linebacker.

Fans also sent their thoughts via our NFC North Twitter account (@espn_nfnblog). Here are some of the highlights.