Brian Urlacher says the only former teammate he did not hear from following his retirement announcement was Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler.

The former linebacker, in an appearance on “In Depth With Graham Bensinger” that will air on Yahoo! Sports, said it gave him an idea of where he stood with Cutler after they were teammates for four seasons. Cutler confirmed at his weekly media conference Thursday that he has not reached out to Urlacher.

“I did not hear from Jay out of all the guys I played with,” Urlacher said. “Maybe we weren’t as close as we could have been. That’s the way it is. That’s just the way to let you know where you stand with people.

“It’s not his job to text me. Maybe that’s not his thing, which is fine. That’s the way it is. I felt I stood up for him a lot more than anyone else over the past three or four years in the media because that guy takes a lot of grief too. He takes a lot of heat from the media too. But that’s our business. Guys are going to take grief and that is the way it goes.”

Cutler, who sounded surprised that Urlacher would be bothered by that, said Thursday: "I haven’t spoken to Brian. I did not call him, so I guess I’ll reach out to him."

Urlacher said he was excited when the Bears traded two first-round draft picks, a third-round pick and Kyle Orton for Cutler on April 2, 2009, but he liked Orton at the time.

“It was a tough situation with him coming in,” Urlacher said. “They traded two first-round picks for him. They got rid of our quarterback at the time, Kyle Orton, who I didn’t think needed to be traded in the first place. I thought he was our guy. We won games with him. He did the things, as a defensive player, you needed. He didn’t turn the ball over. He gave us a chance to play defense. So, I was mad when they traded him in the first place. I didn’t understand it.

“But also I was excited. We got a quarterback who can possibly take us to the Super Bowl. Jay Cutler is a first-round pick, great arm, this and that. But he’s offense, I’m defense. We didn’t get a chance to interact as much as we should have maybe.”

Bensinger asked if there was ever an altercation between the players and Urlacher denied that rumor. He also dismissed the suggestion that Cutler played a role in the Bears making a low contract offer to Urlacher, one that led him to turn down a return for another season.

“I find that hard to believe,” Urlacher said. “In the end it is the Bears’ decision. Not Jay’s or anyone else’s in the end.”

bmbiggs@tribune.com

Twitter @BradBiggs