Tuesday, September 25, 2007

I Think I'm Done -- by J.O.B.


It's time to make a confession. It's tough thing to admit, even to say aloud, but it must be done: I have been a Rex Grossman supporter. I still might be. I'm just so angry and disappointed, I don't know if my current feelings are that of hurt or that of concern. Last year, despite the constant chatter for Griese and the "Good Rex/Bad Rex" saga, I stood by "Sexy Rexy" all the way to the Superbowl. I never buckled and despite the loss, felt somewhat vindicated that they got there with him under center.


This year there was big news of a new quarterbacks coach in Pep Hamilton, Rex solving some mechanical problems and him being a year older in the system. They were somewhat lackluster as an offense in preseason, but that's not odd for any offense that tries to get into a rhythm in less than a half's worth of work. "Everything will be fine when the regular season hits," I said.


Well, on the second offensive play of the game, the season hit Rex Grossman right in the chest in the form of blitzing Chargers linebacker Shaun Phillips. The Bears never got going and even though he only threw one meaningless interception, he never got the team going. "Well, the run game was really bad also," I said. "He'll do better against the Chiefs." They did beat the Chiefs, but it wasn't necessarily because of anything Rex did. He threw two more picks, never scrambled and never really looked comfortable. "Um, they won the game, and he threw a touchdown." That was all I had.


Sunday night was supposed to be the big test. I even sat around telling friends both present and on the phone about how Rex has more TD's, yards, wins and NFC titles than the current media golden boy, and their opponent Sunday night, Tony Romo. Both QB's made errors and had teammates make mistakes that cost them both (each had a receivers drop passes that were either in the end zone or sure touchdowns.) Somehow though, Romo continued to elude the rush, find open receivers and score touchdowns. Of course Rex didn't help by throwing it to Cowboys consistently, having one turn into a nail-in-the-coffin return for a touchdown.

It would be easy to keep putting blame elsewhere. Hester never got going ... Benson only picked up 46 yards and had a key fumble that led to the Cowboys getting up by two scores ... Berrian dropped that pass ... Rex is still only in his second full year, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. At some point though, "Wrecks" has to step up and either do the job or pass it on.


Our QB situation is simple here in Chicago. It's like when you've been going on a string of bad date's with "3's" for years and you finally end up meeting a "6.5." Even though that "6.5" isn't going to be "The One," you keep seeing them because it's such a step up from the "3's" you've ran through. You're afraid to dump the "6.5" but they still don't treat you well, and often disappoint you in key times. Hopefully either "Wrecks" proves he's more like the "8" on his jersey, or the Bears decide to go back to searching for their "10."


UPDATE: Just got word that Griese will be the starter this Sunday against the Lions. I care way more about the Bears winning than about being right about Grossman. I'll take a win, I don't care who's putting their hands on Kreutz' crotch.

4 comments:

jnicho5 said...

I agree 100% with your assesment. I kind of came to that conclusion super bowl. I'm glad you feel the same way.

What I don't like is how every chalks up Griese as a "Band-Aid" solution. That's horrible. Give the guy a chance.

J.ust O.ver B.roke said...

Well, according to Lovie, this will not be a one game experiment. The job is now Griese's. I find it hard to truly be confident that a guy who couldn't beat out Rex in camp is somehow an upgrade or will do better, but stranger things have happened. Plus, who knows what all politics crafted that decision.

jnicho5 said...

Especially since 3 weeks ago the comment to the media was "We have all our confidence in Rex"

I wonder how much of those "amazing" performances from last year had to do with the rest of the team stepping up for Rex, and this season maybe the confidence from the rest of the offense just wasn't there and it came out on the field with poor protection and dropped passes.

Mark said...

Does anyone honestly think Griese was given a chance to beat out Rex in training camp? I mean, Rex "took them to the super bowl" last year...he was the incumbent...he wasn't going to lose that job in training camp. No way. So I guess what this means is that maybe Brian Griese really is the better QB, and now that he's getting a chance, maybe the Bears will respond.

If you think about it, he had some pretty good years in Denver when he had a system in place that played to his strengths.