AP

Brian Urlacher has given his seal of approval to new Bears General Manager Phil Emery, saying that unlike past years, the Bears have taken a step forward this offseason.

“On paper we’re a better football team than we were last year at the end of the season, so I’m excited about that,” Urlacher told the Chicago Tribune. “Phil Emery knows what he’s doing, obviously; Brandon Marshall, Michael Bush, Matt [Forte] coming back, that was a big deal. Tim Jennings, Israel [Idonije], [Eric] Weems, I know I’m leaving some guys out, I don’t mean to, but we’ve done a lot.”

Urlacher suggested that Emery has been more aggressive about addressing the team’s needs than his predecessor, Jerry Angelo, was.

“It’s exciting to see us making moves like that because we haven’t done that a lot in the past,” Urlacher said. “We needed a receiver, we got a receiver, and we still have the draft. All the pressure’s been taken off our draft with what he’s done so far, so it’s exciting; we might get the best player available, which is good.”

Urlacher said that although the Bears missed the playoffs last year, in his view the Bears competed well with the NFC North-winning Packers. And now Urlacher thinks the Bears have made the moves to overtake the Packers.