Chicagosaurus Rex Redux

I previously posted some doubts and hopes for Rex Grossman from the perspective of a Chicago Bear's fan. Allow me to quote my conclusions from that post, with added commmentary:

Grossman has too much cowboy in him right now and presses a bit too hard to make the big play. He is still learning to read defenses and make his checkdowns quickly. If a defense kills his first two options he won't have time to make it down to number three. He is short for a quarterback so he needs to work on keeping his arm slot high and he also needs to work on having his feet stable before he unloads. Right now he is making off-balanced throws and throws off of his back foot. Maybe he was picked four times on Monday but I guarantee you there was at least one time in every previous game where the defender should have had a pick and they missed it.

Unfortunately, all of this remains true. His game reveals problems with mechanics, understanding and judgment.

Don't get me wrong, Rex has a terrific arm and when he does it right he delivers a nice ball and right where it needs to be, much like Kurt Warner did consistently in the 1999-2001 or so era. He can make all the throws. But he is a work in progress, which means he may break Bear fans hearts at times. We have to hope it isn't in a playoff game.

Right now it is almost certain that he will do exactly that, ruin the Bears in a playoff game, because at the moment the Bear's defense and special teams are doing all they can to win despite the miserable play of their QB.

Here is where all those Favre comparisons come back to bite you, Bear fans. Rex is capable of throwing you right out of a game, too, just as Brett has done upon occasion. We know now that Rex can be as bad as a 2005-6 model Favre. Now the question is, can he be as good as a late 20th century model?

I presented only two of the three likely choices, the third being that Rex can be worse than Favre at his lowest. Rex followed up his New England performance with an even more excruciatingly bad showing versus Minnesota today but the defense and special teams were too good to let the Bears lose.

Versus a good New England defense, Rex was 15 of 34 for 176 yards with 0 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Minnesota has a porous pass defense, though, so it would be logical that Rex would bounce back against the Vikings at home. Instead, Rex gave us 6 for 19, 34 yards and the familiar 0 touchies, 3 picks.

Consider that in the first 5 games of the season, Rex threw 10 TD passes versus 4 interceptions. His next 5? 8 TDs and 8 picks. His last 2? 0 TD, 6 interceptions. Does anyone detect a pattern here?

I have to wonder if Lovie Smith has it in him to bench Grossman? Bill Parcells sat Drew Bledsoe down and Tony Romo has since gone 5-1 as a starter. Mike Shanahan has replaced Jake Plummer with Jay Cutler. Heck, today during the Chicago 23-13 win, the Minnesota coach, Brad Childress, replaced Brad Johnson with Brooks Bollinger and then, when Bollinger went down with an injury, sent rookie Tavaris Jackson out to take the snaps.

Brian Griese has been a Pro Bowl quarterback. He is known for making good decisions and managing the game. With a great defense and excellent special teams and a decent running game, the only aspect of the game of football the team seems to lack is consistent NFL-level quarterbacking. Griese can provide this if he is allowed to play.

Sorry, Rex, but I want this team to have a shot at the Super Bowl. The defense, the special teams, heck, everybody deserves a shot to win it all. You are holding the team back.

Lovie, set that young man on the sidelines, hand him a clipboard and let him learn from that perspective while Brian Griese reads defenses and rides this team to the promised land.