The Chicago Bears gained a lot of attention this off season. Noting them as a franchise with so much potential from many analysts, insiders said the Bears were a team that’s strong defensively, but desperately needs a quarterback. So this off season, much attention was gained around the National Football League that the Chicago Bears acquired quarterback Jay Cutler from the Denver Broncos.

So far, in this 2009 NFL season, the Chicago Bears look pretty good. Standing at a solid record of 2-1 including a big win over the defending champions the Pittsburgh Steelers, this Chi-Town franchise have their fans very excited and something to keep their hearts warm at all times even during the freezing temperature’s at Soldier Field.

Israel Idonije the aggressive defensive lineman of the Chicago Bears happens to stop by QtheQuestion.com for an interview. With the Chicago Bears standing strong right now it looks like a battle in the NFC North will be fought to the end. The Vikings have Brett Favre, QB Aaron Rodgers is improving in Green Bay, and the Detroit Lions finally wants to jump in it too, recently ending their winless losing streak.

While the Bears happen to lose hard-hitting linebacker Brian Urlacher for the season, due to a severe wrist injury, Israel is here to let it be known that defense is stepping it up. In regards to having Jay Cutler, Idonije says the chemistry with Cutler on the team is a PLUS for the organization.

You can never forget where you come from and in the case of Israel Odinije its only right to give back to the community, which is why he started “C.A.R.E. AFRICA” and which it only takes a little bit of a fortunate individual’s time to put a smile on a child’s face.

 The season is looking pretty solid for the Chicago Bears. Coming off such a big win against the Steelers how does it feel?

ID: It feel good man, we wanted to get a good start early in the season playing good football. You take the win and then you have to get back to the drawing board. We got more big games coming up so we striving to get more wins. Any great team in this league especially those that want to make the playoffs has to develop a good chemistry so that’s what we are trying to do now.

As a player for the Chicago Bears what’s your take on the NFC North. You have the Green Bay Packers, the Lions want to improve, and it’s a lot of talk about the Vikings this year. Will the division be tougher this season compared to last year?

ID: For the most part this year, every team in our division has gotten better. Minnesota added some weapons, Green Bay, and Detroit. The division as a whole has gotten better. I think in general we are going to have some great matchups. This year there are going to be some really great games. That first game with Green Bay was tough, we put ourselves in a position to win the game, but we let it slip away at the end. Minnesota is playing real good football and they have a lot of weapons. It’s gonna be a great year for this division.

Everyone knows of the tough loss with the Bears losing linebacker Brian Urlacher. Speaking for him and the team how did ya’ll feel when the news broke that Urlacher would miss the rest of the season?

ID: It was disappointing, because Brian is such a strong part for our defense. It was sad and disappointing, but in the game of football things like that happens. When things like that happens it has to be guys to step up and play at a higher level. We were fortunate that we do have good depth and Hunter Hillenmeyer is doing a great job as middle linebacker. At the end of the day everybody has to step up and play defense better so we can continue to win games.

In the off season the Chicago Bears was making a lot of noise around the NFL with the acquisition of Jay Cutler. As a teammate how you feel about Jay Cutler coming to the team to take the Bears to the next level?

ID: He’s (Cutler) a great teammate, Cutler is real chill and relaxed. He works real hard and fits in with the guys in the locker room. When he’s on the field he makes everyone around him better. He has great talent, ability, look forward to him to help us keep getting better.

Playing for a team in the city of Chicago has to be exciting. How it feels to play for the Bears in the Windy city on those cold months of November and December?

ID: Chicago is the alternate sports city and when it comes to sports there is not a better city out there. When it comes to sports the number one team is the Chicago Bears. I’m fortunate to be here and just to be a part of this team I’m blessed. It good to play for a city in which the fans love this team, Chicago deserves a Superbowl. The last one was in ’85 and it’s time to update that.

One thing about you is that you accomplished a lot, overcoming obstacles to make it to the NFL. Playing for the University of Manitoba you came out as an undrafted free agent. Where did the mentality manifest that “I’m a get my shot”?

ID: Football was never my dream when I was younger, it was basketball. When I was thirteen years old, I wrote in my journal that I wanted to play for the Chicago Bulls, that was my childhood. I had a coach tell me that I should play football and would be a great football player. A lot of scouts would come to Manitoba to check a lot of the players out. Through that out of college I ended signing a free agent deal with the Cleveland Browns. I fractured my ankle in Cleveland and the Chicago Bears picked me up.

How fortunate do you feel to be in the NFL. Of course you know of the situations when your first come, team cut the roster down and you realize “Man I’m actually made it”?

ID: I’m extremely fortunate, when you look at the big picture there is only a half of the guys in the whole world that do what I do for a living. There are 32 teams and each team can only have 52 players on their roster. I’m extremely fortunate to be in the NFL and not only that the average career for a football player is 2 ½ years. I’m going into my 7th year and very fortunate to be here to have the longevity that I’ve had.

I remember reading an article on how 70% of NFL players career only last 2-3 years. The average fan doesn’t realize for every veteran it a larger majority of players that didn’t last. How you feel about that?

ID: Well it’s a physical sport, when you take it into consideration you look at injuries for one. Guys get injured and don’t make it. Our contracts are not guaranteed, in the NFL no contracts are guaranteed. When you sign a deal, they can cut or release you at anytime. If they feel like a younger guy is better you can get traded or cut, all those things fall into play. When you get your opportunity do what you can to keep it. In this game that we play nothing is guaranteed and you can’t take it for granted.

So in those early years of your career in the National Football League, did you have those fears of actually getting cut?

ID: Oh yeah man, when I first started absolutely. The fear of getting cut makes you work so hard, the fear of failure push me towards success. To have fear is not a bad thing, but you have to make a positive out of it. In my first couple years and even to my third year, getting cut those things are in the back of your mind. That’s why you do extra things to better yourself.

Getting into another aspect of you as an individual, one thing I respect about you is your willingness to give back to the community. You have your own foundation you started in which you even going back to your home country of Nigeria. Can you speak on the Israel Idonije Foundation?

ID: Absolutely, I feel as though everybody should be giving back. I don’t care where your from or who you are, regardless of how rich your are, whatever. In everyday life there is an opportunity to change someone’s life in another way. I participate as I’ve been blessed and I can do more. At the end of the day it’s fulfilling to change a life and put a smile on young child’s face. Even if I didn’t have the football success that I’ve had, I would still try to do what I could. You can change somebody’s life just by taking some time out your day to listen to what somebody’s going through. Little things like that can go a long way. There is more to giving than just money, it’s things out here to share that can change someone’s life everyday.

What’s it’s like taking trips to your hometown country of Nigeria taking that fresh breath of air?

ID: Aw man it’s awesome. In my program the trip is called “C.A.R.E AFRICA” which stands for CARING, ADVANCING, RESTORING EDUCATION. It was great, Tommie Harris went, Adewale Ogunleye, and Osi Umenyiora is involved as well. The program is focused on going back home and inspiring our youth. The love that we get when we go home is just unparallel and when we go back we do a number of super things. This past year we took twelve doctors from Oklahoma and we ran medical clinics in four villages. Everybody in the village received state of the art medical care. Along with that we held two of Nigeria’s NFL football camps so that was great. It was a great spending time with those kids and people from my country. Check everything out on http://www.israelidonije.org/