Brian Urlacher believes that his former team, the Chicago Bears, should start quarterback Josh McCown over Jay Cutler -- even if Cutler is healthy.
Urlacher, who played with Cutler his final four seasons in the league, wants the Bears to stick with the hot hand.
"It's going to be awfully hard to take Josh out of there right now the way he's playing," Urlacher said Tuesday on "Fox Football Daily." "In my opinion, he should be the guy. He should be the starting quarterback for the Bears, even if Jay Cutler is healthy. You can't take a guy who's this hot out of the football game. If I was on that team, I would have a hard time with them taking him out."
Sticking with the hot hand is not a new concept in the NFL. Last season, San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh crowned Colin Kaepernick the starting quarterback after Alex Smith suffered a concussion and, after being deemed healthy, did not regain his starting status. The Philadelphia Eagles have gone with Nick Foles' hot hand following Michael Vick's hamstring injury earlier this season.
Urlacher and Cutler's relationship has been a topic of discussion before. When Urlacher retired from the league in May, Cutler was the only ex-teammate who didn't give the former star linebacker a phone call.
"Well, I did not hear from Jay, out of all the guys I played with, but that's just -- maybe we weren't as close as ... we could have been," Urlacher said in an interview with Yahoo! Sports, via ESPN.com. Urlacher and Cutler also were involved in a "fight at practice," according to the linebacker.
With Cutler likely the Bears' starting quarterbackSunday versus the Cleveland Browns, we'll see just how healthy Cutler's ankle is.
Follow Lance Cartelli on Twitter @CasuallyGinger