Urlacher embraces small town roots

MIAMI -- Brian Urlacher was so at ease, he slept on the flight to the Super Bowl. And when Sunday arrives, he'll make sure he tunes into his favorite morning fishing show on TV.\nJust to sort of chill.\nOnce he hits the locker room to get ready for the biggest game of his life, Urlacher will eat a couple of cookies -- preferably chocolate chip. He'll cap his pregame routine by listening to some music. Then at game time, with millions watching, he'll step onto the finely manicured grass at Dolphin Stadium and stare across the line at one of the NFL's greatest quarterbacks, Peyton Manning.\nBoth will be making hand signals, pointing and instructing their teammates where to go on every play. It'll be a showdown between the two marquee players -- the two central characters -- of the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears.\n"Brian Urlacher is a guy I will always know where he is. You just can't help it," Manning said of the Bears' six-time Pro Bowl middle linebacker. "There are certain guys like that."\nUrlacher, who was hurt in 2004 when the Colts beat the Bears 41-10 behind Manning's four TD passes, said the Bears will have to be ready for Manning's scrimmage-line antics and deal accordingly.\n"You are not going to fool Peyton Manning," Urlacher said. "He knows where to go with the football before it's even snapped."\nUrlacher has come far just to reach the point where he can defend and match wits with Manning as the Bears go for their second Super Bowl win in 21 years.\nUrlacher grew up in the small New Mexico town of Lovington, population around 9,000, and worked summer jobs in oil pipeline construction, toiling for 12-hour shifts in 100-degree heat for $7 an hour.\nHe went off to college at New Mexico when he got few other recruiting feelers. There, his speed, strength, versatility and athletic ability turned him into a star.\n"I was just happy to make it to college," he said.\nAs a safety and linebacker while also playing wide receiver and returning kicks for the Lobos, he was taken by the Bears in the first round of the 2000 draft. Urlacher's small-town roots served him well.\n"That was the number-one thing, the work ethic, I think," Urlacher said. "We played sports. We played street football and played basketball, ran track, played baseball, all that good stuff."\nAlways compared to past Bears greats at the same position -- Bill George, Dick Butkus and Mike Singletary -- Urlacher's reputation as a game-changer has grown. It was never more evident than in a Monday night game this season. The Bears overcame a 20-point deficit to beat Arizona 24-23 as he forced a key fumble and finished with 25 tackles.\n"He's a special player," Colts tight end Dallas Clark said.\nClark could be on a collision course Sunday with Urlacher, who often runs down the field to cover receivers or make tackles after they catch the ball.\n"You have him in mind, but you can't be looking for him when you're running your routes, swiveling your head," Clark said. "You got to catch the ball. And then you got make sure once you catch it, you secure it, because these guys come fast"