Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher has signed a new contract with the team that adds one year to his existing deal and will give him $18 million in new money if he plays through the life of the deal.

That new contract seems pretty generous on the Bears’ part, considering that Urlacher had already signed a contract in 2003 that was viewed at the time  as the pact that would keep him in Chicago for the rest of his career. But Urlacher now says the nine-year, $56.65 million contract he signed in 2003 was a mistake.

”I would definitely caution anyone signing a deal that long,” Urlacher said. “‘It’s very enticing at the time because it’s a lot of guaranteed money up front, and you want to get that security. But at the same time, you don’t know how you are going to play, either. You may outplay it.”

Of course, if Urlacher hadn’t signed a deal that long, he wouldn’t have received as much guaranteed money up front. That’s why the Bears could have simply told him that the deal he agreed to is the deal he would be held to, and he wouldn’t have had much leverage.

But the team decided that it didn’t want one of its top players to be unhappy, so they tore up that nine-year contract and gave him a new one. Urlacher is lucky the Bears gave him the opportunity to fix his mistake.