Brian Urlacher said he does not want the Bears playing anywhere but Soldier Field, and he rejected the idea of the Bears in a dome anywhere. The former Bears linebacker tied his preference to outdoor football in Chicago winters, then acknowledged why a move to Indiana could still make business sense.
Urlacher on Soldier Field
“I do not like the Bears playing anywhere but Soldier Field,” Urlacher said on This Is Football in an interview with Kevin Clark. He was even more direct about the stadium format: “Even if they went to Arlington Heights, which is in Illinois, they’re going to be in a dome, and if they go to Indiana they’ll be in a dome. I don’t like the idea of them playing in a dome anywhere.”
That stance comes from his years with the Bears, when Soldier Field was his home stadium. Urlacher spoke as someone who played those conditions and saw the edge they can create when opponents have to deal with them in November and December.
Chicago Winters and the Edge
Urlacher said the Bears lose a home-field advantage by moving indoors, and he framed that advantage in plain football terms. “It’s the only advantage the Bears have,” he said about playing outdoors in Chicago winters. He added, “You go to Soldier Field in November, December? It’s gonna suck. The weather is not gonna be good. You’re not gonna like it. And playing there, you practice in it, you get used to it, there’s some advantage to that.”
His point is not about aesthetics. It is about repetition. If the Bears practice in those conditions, they adapt to them, while visiting teams face them only on game day. That is the core of his argument for keeping Soldier Field in the mix rather than moving the team into a dome.
Indiana and the Money
Urlacher also drew a clear line between football preference and financial reality. “I understand financially it makes a ton of sense for them to go to Indiana. They don’t own Soldier Field, so Sundays are not very profitable for them,” he said. He went further: “Indiana is willing to offer more. I don’t like it, but business wise it makes a ton of sense for them to go to Indiana.”
That leaves the Bears balancing two different calculations at once: a football case for Soldier Field and a financial case for Indiana. The team is weighing options between building a dome in Illinois and building a dome in Indiana, and Urlacher’s comments sharpen the tradeoff without resolving it.
For now, the former linebacker has made his position clear. He wants the Bears at Soldier Field, he does not want them in a dome, and he sees the money pushing in the other direction.
