Part of the fun of being a certain age is that I have, in my lifetime, seen the three great Bears linebackers: Butkus, Singletary and Urlacher play.  The quick compare and contrast?  

Butkus was ferocious.  In an era where the hits in the NFL were brutal, he was the most brutal.  Considering how bad the man's knees were, he played better on one leg than most players did on two.  People wonder why we named our 12 pound dog Butkus.  Because I wanted people to think he was fierce.  Because Dick Butkus was fierce.  And mean.  And awesome.  He'll always be my favorite defensive Bear just because when I was a kid, I wanted to be him.  I wanted to hit like him.  I wanted to kick ass like him.

Singletary was more cerebral.  He was the guy that ran one of the most intricate defenses in history.  He was the guy who had to earn the respect of several NFL all-pros like Dan Hampton, Steve McMichael, Wilbur Marshall, Otis Wilson and others.  He was the most revered member of the 1985 Bears next to Walter Payton.  And he's the second Ditka era Bear to become a head coach (Jeff Fisher being the first.)

Urlacher is by far the most athletic of the three.  In an era where speed is all the rage, Urlacher is lightning.  His ability to play his position in the Tampa Two earlier in his career was breathtaking.  He's older, slowed by age and injury, but he still has a couple of years left.  Urlacher is the flashier of the three, no doubt, and he's sort of a Butkus-Samurai hybrid.  He's tough, brutal, fast and a pretty smart player and the sum of  all past Bear parts.  He's the linebacker Dr. Frankenstein created in a laboratory.

The reason I did this was because many younger fans have no idea who this guy Singletary is and where he fit in on the time line.  It's been almost 27 years since the Bears won the Super Bowl, so if you are say under 24, chances are that Mike Singletary is to you as Bill George is to me, a Bears legend that you have read about but never saw play.  Fortunately for me, I did see him his whole career and to me, he could be coach of the Packers and I'd still love the guy.

Whatever happens tomorrow night will not affect Singletary's popularity one iota with Bears fans.  He'll always be a Bear.  And, in a perfect world, he'd come home to coach his former team and bring Ron Rivera, Les Frazier and some of his 1985 teammates with him.