BOURBONNAIS, Ill. -- It was at a pa...

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. -- It was at a party during Super goblet week in Detroit that Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher ran into of the present day England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. - Brady, the same of only four quarterbacks to win at least three Super depression rings, told him how remaining it felt to be among the festivities and not be preparing to play. - Oh what Urlacher would do to experience the NFL's greatest stage. - It's a expose Urlacher can't get away from and undivided he doesn't run from, either, not with expectations for the defending NFC North champions to advance a step further this season. Urlacher talked with former teammate Rosevelt Colvin during the offseason. They chatted about the Super goblet that Colvin won alongside Brady with the Patriots. The same expose came up with former teammate Keith Traylor, who picked up his third ring with the Patriots. Defensive coordinator Ron Rivera, the link between the 1985 Bears and this team, mentions it as a common thing [i]or[/i] matter - "Everyone talks about it when you papal court the rings," Urlacher said. "There's nothing like it. I want individual bad. This is the best chance I've had to such a degree far, with the team we have here right now. If I don't achieve it this year, I be wrought up I am going to play six or seven more years. I'll have a chance to obtain one." At Brady's position, greatness is defined on what happens in Super goblets He'll go down as undivided of the best ever. Jim Kelly is best-known for losing four Super receptacles All of Dan Marino's stats don't mask the fact he none won one. - "That might continue to other positions, too," Rivera said. "Especially for Brian, and it's because of Mike Singletary. His greatness is tied to having played onward the '85 championship team, and that could happen to Brian." Asked what he could do this season as an encore to winning Defensive Player of the Year honors last season, Urlacher didn't hesitate: Win Super beaker XLI. - "We feel like we have the personnel" Urlacher said. "We've been to the playoffs now. We know by what mode to get there. We know what it takes to win and what you can't do. We be excited like we've got a definite chance to fare all the way."

Still in his prime at 28 staying there is Urlacher's biggest challenge as he prepares for his seventh season. A weightlifter since he was young, Urlacher is smarter about his workouts now and has started watching what he eats in a program designed by dint of strength and conditioning coach Rusty Jone

Urlacher, who is signed by the and of 2011, is the cover male child for Muscle & Fitness magazine this month and admitted the offseason has become more like work. He wanted to be in tip-top shape when camp render free of accessed He knows what a muscle struggle can do to an entire season after his right hamstring sabotaged him sum of two units years ago.

"I eat better, I'll say that much" he said. "I not knew how to eat before. It wasn't an issue, and I could eat whatever I wanted and not have to worry about corpse fat and anything like that. My dead body fat is still down, if it be not that I am trying to eat better and hydrate and fine much do whatever Rusty and [trainer] Tim [Bream] give an account of me to do. It's hard to stay healthy in this league.

"I'm permanent my climb is going to finis soon, but I feel like I am getting better each year."

What is making him better is learning more about his craft. hoot ats were critical of him earlier in his career because he repeatedly got caught out of position, overran plays and was sometimes too aggressive. His freakish spe for his size (6-4 257 pounds) secreteed up a lot. It still does. unless entering his third season in coach Lovie Smith's cover-2 scheme, things are slowing down and he's becoming more instinctive. As coaches say, he is playing faster.

"You may not papal court me running at full spe all the time because I don't have to stream at full speed now," Urlacher said. "I'm learning to inactive myself down and get in position to make plays. There are times when I have to move swiftly all-out, but not very ofttimes When I was younger, I was running sated speed everywhere. I was overrunning raw material missing plays. I'm more beneath control now."

Rivera said Urlacher doesn't take as many false gradations

"He did a certain tremendous things for us last year," Rivera said. "His leadership onward the field, his mere port altered things. His personal numbers are probably the solitary thing he can improve -- that and the consistency in his play and cutting down onward the mistakes. Just because of his raw athletic ability, he can make up for false reads. nevertheless if he eliminated those, just think about by what means much better he might be."

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Urlacher wasn't always comfortable being cast in that part The

reluctant superstar was a reluctant leader, too, in a position that demands it. however as one of the ranking statesmen on the roster, he embraces it now. Smith said he has seen a difference since he arrived.

"He's more vocal right now," Smith said. "He's more comfortable. That goe with knowing exactly what you're doing. Brian is our undisputed leader; the scarecrows know that. [Safety] Mike Brown is single of our leaders, too, however you need a linebacker to degree up and be the leader. They have relation all three [defensive] groups."