For 13 seasons, Brian Urlacher was the heart and soul of the Chicago Bears. An eight-time Pro Bowler, a five-time All-Pro, and a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer, Urlacher kept the standard of elite linebacker play in the Windy City alive.
He’s still finding ways to fulfill that competitive streak in retirement, with one of them being the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament. He’s been a competitor in several editions of the yearly event, having placed in the top ten among 90 celebrity contestants before.
Brian Urlacher Shares Details of “Exciting” ACC Celebrity Golf Tournament
Players from sports and entertainment alike gather to compete along the shores of Lake Tahoe at the Edgewood Tahoe Resort in Stateline, Nevada. Though Urlacher hasn’t won the event yet, he’s been an above-average performer practically every year and has a lot of fun participating in the event.
“It’s fun as hell, man,” he said. “It’s an exciting week. When we get the invite, you wait for that invite every year to make sure you get it. You circle that on your calendar, and it’s probably our favorite week of the summer. You get to go to Tahoe for a week, and the golf is great, man. The golf course is always in great shape when you’re playing against 90 other celebrities, or athletes, or actors.”
“I like competing at golf. I have no chance to win (laughs). I understand that; I’m not going in there to win, but it’s fun to compete against everybody else and see where you kind of stack up against these other guys and women, as well.”
The winner of the 2025 American Century Championship was former NHL star Joe Pavelski, while Urlacher placed No. 21 out of 90 contestants. Other past winners include Tony Romo, Stephen Curry, Mark Rypien, and former MLB All-Star Mark Mulder.
“I think my best finish is seventh or ninth, something like that,” Urlacher added. “I never play as good as I think I should. It’s a hard game, you know. I set these goals each year, ‘I’m getting top 10’, but after the first day, I’m like, ‘alright, maybe top 30 would be good’, because I always have a rough first day, but it’s fun. There’s no shortage on fun, that’s for sure.”
Brian Urlacher Speaks Up on Logan Jones Wearing No. 54 Jersey for Bears
Urlacher retired from the NFL in 2013, having spent his entire professional career with the Bears. Though his No. 54 jersey hadn’t been officially retired – Chicago already leads the NFL with 14 retired jerseys and hasn’t retired a new one since 2013 – no Bears player had worn it since he left the league.
That’s changing in 2026, when the Bears’ second-round pick, rookie center Logan Jones, will be donning the No. 54 jersey that Urlacher made famous. Though some initial uproar came from the Bears’ fanbase on the move, the Hall of Famer is on board with Jones bringing the jersey back into circulation.
“Logan Jones, great draft pick, by the way,” Urlacher said in an exclusive interview with Pro Football Network. “The Iowa kids, most of these kids that go to the NFL have good careers, you know. He’s a smart kid, played center there for however long he did.”
“Yeah, I’m good with it, man. George McCaskey sent me a text saying, ‘Hey, we want to give it to Logan’. I said, ‘You don’t have to call me and ask me! You own the team, it’s your number’. But it was nice of him to do that. I’m happy for the kid. I’m sure he’ll represent it and do a good job.”
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Urlacher has remained an active face within the Bears community, having attended games at Soldier Field. In particular, Chicago brought him back to reinstate the “4th Phase”, a term the team used to call the home-field advantage that the Bears’ fans would bring them during home games. He saw that the 4th Phase came into effect for the Bears’ playoff win over the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card round of last season’s playoffs.
“I’ve never seen Soldier Field like that, honestly,” Urlacher said about the energy the Bears fans brought in the playoff win. “Even all my playing years, and we played in two NFC Championship games there, I’d never seen that place that electric or loud. It was awesome, man. It was great to be a part of it. I was down the field in the fourth quarter when they came back against Green Bay to win. It was bada** to hear those fans and to see those towels waving. It was pretty special.”
Urlacher Is Against Bears’ Reported Move to Hammond, Indiana
Though Soldier Field was incredibly energetic during Chicago’s two playoff games last year, there’s a strong chance the Bears fans will be cheering on their team somewhere else in the near future. The team’s board of directors recently approved the concept of moving forward on pursuing a new stadium in Hammond, Indiana, which is obviously out of Illinois state lines but only half an hour away from Soldier Field.
Urlacher, who spent 13 seasons playing at Soldier Field, respects the tradition and the stadium’s importance to the fanbase. That said, he understands the finances of moving, particularly with the state of Indiana providing a favorable deal to the Bears to relocate to Hammond.
“I don’t care where they move, I don’t want them out of Soldier Field,” Urlacher stated.
“I don’t care if it’s in Illinois, Arlington Heights, Illinois, in Indiana. I don’t want them playing anywhere but Soldier Field. There’s so much history, tradition there.”
“I get [moving to a new stadium]. The Bears don’t own Soldier Field; the city of Chicago does, so, financially, that makes sense for them to leave. Do I think they’re better off moving out of Illinois? For sure. Financially, it makes more sense for them to go to Indiana, because they’re going to get better tax breaks. They’re going to give them more money to build the stadium. Why not leave?”
“It makes a ton of sense financially. Indiana’s a great state, they love football there, and it’s only 25 minutes from downtown to get to Hammond, so it’s not a huge deal to go over the border right there to be in at a Bears game.”
Urlacher Says Caleb Williams Is “A Generational Talent”
Regardless of where the Bears play football going forward, the hope is that quarterback Caleb Williams still sticks around long enough to make the jump to the new stadium. The early returns have been strong, so much so that EA Sports named him their cover athlete for Madden NFL 27.
“He’s a bada** dude,” Urlacher said regarding Williams. “He’s a different type of player, a generational talent. There’s a lot of guys who can throw the football, but they can’t run the football. They can run, but they can’t throw; they do one or the other. He does them both equally well. He’s a dynamic guy. [I’m] happy for him; he earned that cover. It’s very cool to see a Bears guy finally on [the cover of Madden].
As Urlacher mentioned, the Bears had never had one of their players on the cover of Madden since EA Sports began featuring NFL players on its video game cover in 2000. However, Urlacher made it onto the cover of the now-defunct NFL 2K series, having appeared as the cover athlete on NFL 2K3 in 2002.
“I don’t remember, honestly, going through it,” he responded about the process of being a cover athlete. “I remember that there was a weird picture of me on the [cover], like I’m making a weird stance. I wasn’t really fond of that, but it’s cool, you know? They selected [Williams] to be on there, they selected me back in the day. [It] must mean you’re doing something right on the football field.”
The NFL 2K3 cover, as unflattering as the cover picture may be, is just one of many accolades that Urlacher accomplished in his playing career. Perhaps the biggest was his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018, after making it in his first year of eligibility.
Urlacher Makes Case for Olin Kreutz To Get Inducted Into Hall of Fame
As one of the founding franchises of the NFL, the Bears have the most Hall of Famers with 32 (a total that rises to 41 if you include players who spent short portions of their careers in Chicago). During Urlacher’s time in the Windy City, he played with the likes of Devin Hester and Julius Peppers, who have both been inducted into Canton.
However, with the success Chicago had during Urlacher’s career – particularly on defense – it may come as a surprise that there haven’t been more Hall of Famers to come from that era of Bears football. When asked which of his teammates belonged in the Hall next, he didn’t hesitate with his answer.
“Olin Kreutz,” Urlacher responded promptly. “That’s my answer. That’s an easy one. Olin made eight or nine Pro Bowls. He was drafted [in 1998] by the Bears and played ’till I think 2010 with the Bears. I watched that dude, I learned from him every day in practice. I got to practice against him, as all we did. He’s got to be the next guy inducted in the Hall of Fame.”
“You also got Charles Tillman, you got Lance Briggs right there, as well. But Olin, in my opinion, needs to be the next one inducted in the Hall of Fame. I’m glad we got Devin in. Then we got Julius [Peppers] in; that was a no-brainer, obviously. Julius was a first-ballot guy. Olin Kreutz needs to get a little more love. People can start talking about that a little more.”
