When asked this morning what kind of reaction he had gotten from his teammates who learned a week ago the Chicago Bears would be dumping Alex Brown, he said he didn’t want to get anyone in trouble.

“I'm not going to sit here and throw anyone under the bus and say they said this isn't the right thing for the Bears do to,” Brown said. “Maybe there are some different opinions, but that's OK. We're all going to be fine."

If Brown doesn’t want to out any upset teammates, that is understandable. We’ll go ahead and do it for the defensive end.

"That sucks, man,' linebacker Brian Urlacher told Vaughn McClure of the Chicago Tribune. "God, that sucks. I'm sad. Alex has been one of my best friends on the team since he's been here. You won't find a guy more adored by his teammates than Alex Brown.

"We live in the same area and when you go to the grocery store, people talk about the type of guy he is, how he talks to everyone. I know it's a business, but I can't imagine not playing with him and Adewale (Ogunleye)."

Urlacher wasn’t just upset because Brown went out of his way to do things for teammates, like showing up in New Mexico for a charity basketball game that his teammate was putting on.

"It helped that he played well right away, too,” Urlacher said. “He's been our most consistent defender the last six or seven years, with staying on the field and all his starts in a row.”

Brown has played in 127 consecutive games. He had the team’s longest consecutive starts streak until he was benched for Mark Anderson in the 2007 season, a mistake the coaching staff admitted when they restored Brown to his previous role the next season.

The Bears should be improved at defensive end with the addition of Julius Peppers. Anderson will get first crack at starting, most likely, and Israel Idonije is in the mix at end. But sometimes seeing popular teammates go is difficult to accept, especially when they’re still in their prime.

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