Via Twitter, blog regular @GBChicinMaine is pressuring me to post an item on week-old comments attributed to Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, who apparently suggested the Bears are the best team in the NFC during a visit to a New Mexico elementary school.

Sorry, GBChic. Knowing Urlacher, that would be news only if he had named another team.

What I will do, however, is draw your attention to noted funnyman Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin congressman who is also the House Budget Committee chairman. Ryan has gained a bit of fame recently during the federal government's budget battle, and on Monday he couldn't resist a shot at Bears quarterback Jay Cutler during a speech to the Economic Club of Chicago.

The Washington Examiner has the full text of Ryan's prepared remarks, which he apparently embellished a bit during the actual speech. Fox News quoted him this way:

"I want to thank you all for inviting me to speak. It was especially gracious of you to host me, even though I'm a Packers fan and I assume most of you are Bears fans. But that doesn't mean we can't work together. As chairman of the House Budget Committee, I stand ready to do whatever it takes to help you re-sign Jay Cutler.

"I'm here to talk about the economy today -- about the need to get four quarters of strong, consistent performance.

"That wasn't another Jay Cutler joke, I swear. It could be, but it's not."

Something is most definitely rotten in the state of Denmark. We have politicians making football jokes, football players spending more time in federal mediation than on the practice field and football writers ranking helmets. #stopthemadness!