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The Chicago Bears haven't even begun training camp practices and already there are signs they will supplant the Dallas Cowboys as the NFL's best soap opera.

Brian Urlacher is on record as denying he called Jay Cutler a word that's a euphemism for, among other things, a cat.

A Bears spokesman also has issued a denial, even though he didn't speak with the former Bear receiver (Bobby Wade) who told a Minnesota radio station he heard Urlacher hurl the insult.

What is certain is that the issue isn't going to die. Urlacher had a testy relationship with the Chicago sports media last year, and he's unlikely to get any slack this season. Also, Cutler's contentious departure from Denver means he arrived in the far tougher town of Chicago with some cry-baby baggage, so Urlacher's comment seems believable.

The Chicago Sun-Times' Dan McNeil certainly is buying it, writing that:

I believe Urlacher said what Wade said he did, and I have a good idea why he said it. Urlacher won't admit to what he said because he doesn't want anybody to know how enormously jealous he is. It's Cutler's team now, and Urlacher doesn't like it. He never has had a business card that didn't read "The Man."

He let Cedric Benson know this was "his town" when he and fellow defenders took liberties with Benson in his first training camp. The Bears were lightly scrimmaging, but Urlacher and others went full speed and tackled Benson as though he were wearing green and gold.

Second banana doesn't agree with Urlacher. Any perceived threat to his status as Mr. Bear must be penalized.

Meantime, Urlacher also told the Chicago Tribune he found humor in a WSCR-AM report that he had to be restrained from going after Cutler during organized team activities, when the linebacker was limited by a groin injury. Said Urlacher:

"I didn't even practice . . . If anything, I called him a few names for zipping balls by my head with that cannon he has. Me having to be restrained? That's funny."

But what won't be funny for the Bears is if this matter lingers, and Cutler and Urlacher become the new T.O. and Tony Romo show.

By Reid Cherner & Tom Weir
Are Chicago Bears the new Dallas Cowboys? - Game on - USATODAY.com

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