I remember like it was yesterday, almost three years ago, I was sitting at Buffalo Wild Wings in Wilmington, NC and I was eating all the wings I can eat and watching the Bears and the Colts in Super Bowl XLI. While I was stuffing my face with wings, Lance Briggs, linebacker for the Chicago Bears, was playing in the biggest game of his life. Unfortunately, the Bears lost that game to Peyton Manning and the Colts 29-17. That was the last time the Bears played in a postseason game.

Since Super Bowl XLI, the Bears have finished a combined 23-25 (7-9 in 2007, 9-7 in 2008, and 7-9 this season) and have not made the playoffs in the last three seasons. I spoke to Lance Briggs over the phone and he finds the last three seasons unacceptable. “It’s disheartening…it’s disappointing, says Lance Briggs. You don’t play in this league to go 7-9 or 5-11. We have to relax and get ready to work this offseason.” The Bears have some things to fix before the start of the 2010 season. Lance and his defense finished the season 17th in total defense, 23rd in rushing yards a game with 126.4 rushing yards a game, and tied 21st with the Browns in points allowed per game with 23.4 points per game. Offensively, Jay Cutler threw over 25 interceptions and averaged 20.4 points per game. Lance feels that this team has to go back and play Chicago Bear football. “You have to play sound football, says Lance. On offense, we have to go to the red zone and get the ball in the end zone. We played good defense at times and sometimes people ran through us like Swiss cheese.” Things did get better for the team in the last two weeks of the season. In Week 16, Jay Cutler threw a 39-yard game-winning touchdown pass to Devin Aromashodu and defeated Brett Favre and the Vikings 36-30 in overtime on Monday Night Football. In the last game of the season, the Bears defeated the Lions 37-23 and swept the season series for the fourth time in five seasons. Lance doesn’t see as just two wins and the season is over, he sees it as a winning streak. “The season ended on a high note and you can go into next season with some positives. When we head to the 2010 season, we will be on a two-game winning streak and we’ll be ready.” Another positive heading to the season is Bears head coach Lovie Smith returning for the 2010 season. There was rumors speculating Lovie’s job status, but when Lance heard that his coach is returning, he was thrilled that he was staying. “I feel good, he’s where he’s where he is supposed to be and he’s been doing a great job for what he’s been given. You’ll never find a better coach, a more dedicated coach, that goes in watches more game film and gets us more prepared then coach Smith.”

During the start of his offseason, Lance has been lifting weights, running, and doing light things while he works out. Before the season was over, Lance Briggs was selected to his fourth Pro Bowl selection. Unfortunately, Clay Matthews, linebacker of the Green Bay Packers, will replace Lance in the Pro Bowl after doctors told him it would be wise to miss the game due to injuries he suffered this season, but that won’t stop him for making the trip to Miami. “I still plan on making the trip, being in the Pro Bowl is an honor. It lets you know that you are the best in the world. I enjoy making the trip and practicing and playing with the best players in the league. I want to go there and show my respect to the fans.” For the first thing this season, the Pro Bowl will be played a week before the Super Bowl and will be held in Miami instead of a beautiful trip to Hawaii. Lance always loves the trip to Hawaii and is disappointed that he won’t be going there for the game this season. “I don’t like it…It’s disappointing that it’s not in Hawaii this year. I usually schedule a trip with me and my family over there every year, but now I won’ be able to do that this season.”

The NFL playoffs startedand Lance knows how tough it is to play in the postseason. He’s been impressed from what he’s been seeing so far this postseason. “I’ve seen plenty of blowouts and I also saw a close game with the Packers and the Cardinals. I was in the airport and went on the plane and saw that the Cardinals were up. Then when I got off the plane, the game was really close. That’s what I love about the playoffs.” It was tough for him to make a decision on who will play in the Super Bowl XLIV. Even though he didn’t give me a winner, he likes these teams chances. “It’s tough but if I had to choose it would be San Diego and Minnesota.” There are many rookies playing in this year’s postseason like Mark Sanchez, Lesean McCoy and a few others. Lance knows how it feels to be in there shoes and he would tell young players to be no different than they played all season.”I would tell them to go out there and do what you do all season long. I always tell my linebacker crew big players step up in big games.”

Lance is a 29 year old, 6-1, 242 pound linebacker out of the University of Arizona, but even the toughest athletes in the world have something that they love and will stick with them forever. Since he was a child, Lance has been a big fan of comics. While he’s not playing football, he takes time to read all types of comics. “I’ve been a fan of comics since I was six or seven years old. While my mom would sit and look at the TV to watch soaps, I would go and find another TV to watch superheroes or go get a comic and start reading.” Most people’s favorites would consist of Superman, Batman, or X-Men to name a few, but Lance always loves the type of comics that have real people who are superheroes that go through real problems, like the graphic novel “Watchmen.” There is always a favorite comic book he loves this day that deals with those exact issues. “I love reading “The Darkness.” He was a guy that works for the mafia. He would work for anyone as long as it’s in the dark.” There’s been many comics that have been turning into movies in the last several years. Lance loves how the technology in these movies that make it fun to watch in the movie theaters, but there is one comic he’s enjoyed that turned into a movie. “I like Iron Man…It was the one movie that I say was the closest to the actual story.” Brian Dawkins, safety of the Denver Broncos, always used the Wolverine character from X-Men to motivate him to play on the field, but you would expect Lance to have a character of his own. He told me that comics is something he loves to do off the field and not on the field. “I don’t have any character that motivates me on the field. I don’t read them before game day and go out and be another character on the field (laughing). It kind of gets me away from things.”

Lance and the Bears have to go back to work in a few months to get ready for the 2010 season. During his offseason he starts to have a big appetite. “I’m hungry (laughing) so I cook and go on the internet and look for some recipes. I invite some teammates over and I would cook some Fondue (a four-cheese Swiss dish served in a earthenware pot to dip food in some cheese) and we would just chill out and have a good time.”

The Bears mini-camp will be here before you know it and the Bears are ready to head back to the postseason. Lance is ready to accomplish his dream as a Super Bowl champion. “It would (long pause) that would be a great ending to a career. It captures everything that I work for all my life.” Before I ended my conversation with Lance I asked him why the Bears will win the Super Bowl, and he sound as hungry as ever. “No one will be more hard working, more dedicated, more passionate and ready for the season like the 2010 Bears.”