St. Louis ? A creature of habit, Brian Urlacher dislikes the trappings and the inconvenience of playing on Monday night.

The Chicago Bears’ standout middle linebacker would choose a matinee every time over the national television audience that’ll be watching them play the St. Louis Rams.

“I hate playing night games because you get home late if you’re on the road, and it screws up your whole week because you only have one day to recover until you start practicing again,” Urlacher said. “It is a big game because everybody’s watching, but personally I’m not a big fan of it, except for the fact that everyone gets to see it, and hopefully you play well.”

The Rams (5-7) eagerly anticipate the game against a team tied for the best record in the NFL because that’s about all that’s left of their season. But they certainly aren’t looking forward to the challenge of controlling the Bears’ do-it-all middle linebacker.

Coach Scott Linehan said Urlacher is “arguably” the best defensive player in the NFL, and there’s no disagreement from Rams players.

“You see it in the papers and you see it everywhere else that he is a big-time defensive guy that makes a lot of plays,” running back Steven Jackson said. “He’s certainly a guy that you have to account for. I’m definitely going to account for him.”

Urlacher leads a defense that is the cornerstone of the Bears’ standing as the class of the NFC. Chicago (10-2) has a two-game lead for home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.

The Bears have allowed only 150 points, an average of 12.5 per game and by far the stingiest showing in the NFL.

Chicago, which clinched the NFC North last week, leads the league with a plus-10 turnover differential and also leads the NFL by a wide margin with 39 takeaways, 10 more than the next-best team heading into this weekend.