(The following is a weekly exclusive Q&A with Bears All-Pro linebacker Brian Urlacher conducted by FOXSports.com’s Senior NFL Writer/NFL Insider Jay Glazer. Urlacher has elected to conduct a weekly sit down with Glazer to open up about the latest news from the Bears, his team and his own play in what has so far been a disappointing season for the Bears.)

Prior to the bye week, you revealed just how much back pain has plagued you this season. Did the break help at all or will it limit you for the rest of the season?

It goes in spurts. I don’t think the off time helped as much as some new exercises I’ve been doing has. For some reason, the last three weeks it has felt… not good but better than it has this whole season. It’s encouraging. I‘m trying to do different things like take different vitamins and do these exercises for it. It’s going to be an ongoing thing so I’m trying to learn how to deal with it.

You said it “goes in spurts.” Give me an example of when it’s worse.

Once I get stretched out and loosen it up on Sundays, it feels pretty good. The worst it really feels is when our offense has a long drive. After I loosen it up and then I sit and I’m not running around on it during a long drive, it tightens up a bit.

This season has been disappointing to say the least. Your offense has never exactly been considered a juggernaut but your defense has. The D has been far from dominant or even the least bit consistent. Did you use this off week to figure out what the heck happened to this vaunted Bears defense?

I’ve been trying to figure out what’s wrong with me and the team every single day I’m at work and then when I leave work. This week I didn’t think about football at all. Sometimes getting away and stepping back helps you see things better. I’m still trying to find the answer to why I’m not playing like I want and why we aren’t playing well as a team.

I didn’t want to think about football at all. I needed to recharge my batteries. This week was a mental break for me. The bye week came at a perfect time for us. I hung out with my kids and did absolutely nothing. It was great. I came back so refreshed. I think a lot of our guys did.

Well, since you didn’t think about football in the bye week, I’ll give you a little news update. That guy Adrian Peterson, I think you’ve heard of him, absolutely gashed the Chargers defense for 296 yards. I think you know the kid.

It’s funny, I was flying back with Adam (Archuleta) and I was telling him I hope he put up 350 yards on somebody. We gave up 220 to him. You see, he does it to everybody, not just us.

Can this kid be stopped?

Anyone in the NFL can be stopped. There’ll be games he doesn’t get a bunch of carries because of the situation of the game. If you go by stats, obviously he has to be considered the best in the league right now. He’s a big guy and he’s hard to tackle.  As big and as fast as he is, he’s tough to bring down.

You hit the bye and the one thing that still hasn’t worked itself out is your quarterback position. Rex Grossman got benched because of all the turnovers, but Brian Griese has been just as inconsistent. Is it time to turn to Kyle Orton if Griese doesn’t turn things around quickly?

We, as players, don’t decide who’s in the game. Griese is the guy right now and we’re behind him. Up until Detroit (in Week 8), he had a rough game in that one, he was playing well. You can’t yank a guy based on one game. He’s not dumb, he’s a veteran QB and he knows what he needs to do to turn it around for us.

What about Cedric Benson? What if he doesn’t show more consistency as you start the second half of the season? Should you go another direction there?

He had some fumble problems earlier in the season, but he’s gotten much better with that. As a defense, we’ve put our offense in a bad position. We haven’t helped our running game because our defense can’t stop anybody. We’ve got to put him in better positions to run with a lead. How can he get anything going if we keep letting people score and putting us in positions where we’re down early?

What do you need to change in how you play the second half of the season?

Make more big plays. Be more of an impact player. My whole career, I’ve made big plays. I played some games this year and you probably wondered if I even played. I need to quit missing tackles.

You’ve said you still think the Bears are a playoff team. Do you realize what your team needs to do in order to make that happen? Green Bay and Detroit are going to be pretty difficult to catch.

It’s not an eight-game season. We’re going to have to go 7-1 or 8-0 to get into the playoffs. We can do that. Once you get in you never know what happens. If you’re hot, anything can happen in the postseason.

We have to look at every game like it’s a one-game season. But guys are refreshed, rejuvenated. We’re hungry. I really, honestly believe we can still make the playoffs.