The Bears took a big step Tuesday in making the new Soldier Field as attractive as possible in the coming years.

 

They made sure linebacker Brian Urlacher would be there every Sunday during football season for a long, long time.

 

As expected this off-season, the Bears and Urlacher have agreed in principle to a long-term contract extension intended to keep the Pro Bowl linebacker in Chicago for the rest of his career, according to a club source.

 

Urlacher and general manager Jerry Angelo are expected to make the announcement official at a news conference Wednesday at Halas Hall.

 

The deal is believed to approach in length and value the one signed by Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, the player to whom Urlacher's skills often are compared. Lewis signed a seven-year, $50 million extension last year with a whopping signing bonus of $19 million.

 

That contract set the market for middle linebackers.

 

In March, the Bills signed free-agent linebacker Takeo Spikes for six years at $32 million with $11 million guaranteed. Also in the off-season, the Dolphins locked up the nucleus of their defense, Zach Thomas, with a 6-year, $33.75 million deal with a $10.5 million bonus.

 

Urlacher, one of the biggest bargains in sports last season with a $450,000 salary, had two years remaining on a contract scheduled to pay him $2 million next season and $2.1 million in 2004. The Bears took advantage of being $2.5 million below the $75 million salary cap, money expected to go toward Urlacher's pro-rated bonus.

 

Urlacher's agent, Steve Kauffman, and the Bears had been talking about a new contract since the draft. Throughout the process, a source said Urlacher made clear a strong desire to stay and had no desire to test the free-agent market.

Great news for once.

Thats awesome news.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/news/2003/0604/1563040.html

 

looks like he is here thru 2011 but with the way the NFL works his deal dould be redone easily but he will stay here