tr1
December-7th-2007, 08:32 AM
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/sports/685853,jay120607.article
With Bears at a crossroad, Grossman's knee injury should close this chapter on the Bears' perennial and futile quarterback search
December 7, 2007
BY JAY MARIOTTI Sun-Times Columnist
LANDOVER, Md. -- With the gnarled, hideous twist of his left knee, followed by the mortified moans of human beings who know body parts don't bend that way, Rex Grossman was gone. And with his departure Thursday night came the final, conclusive piece of evidence supporting an inarguable truth.
He cannot be the Bears quarterback any longer.
Nor can Brian Griese, who replaced Grossman and allegedly threw two balls toward Devin Hester that wound up in the mitts of Redskins late in the first half. He played better later, but not well enough to avoid a 24-16 loss that puts the Bears out of their 2007 misery. If Kyle Orton would like to play next week, fine, but I'm thinking a better idea might be the bucking-bronco loon who rushed onto the field toward the Bears defense and had to be subdued by 10 cops. At least he had a pulse, though my first thought was Billy Ligue and his kid at U.S. Cellular Field and how such a security lapse still can happen these days.
It officially can be declared now that The Rex Era was a monumental error in Chicago sports history, as some of us have known for some time. This means Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith need to move on to Plan Q -- or is it R or S? -- as the Bears enter a tense transition period following their one-and-done Super Bowl loss and rapid demise as a pro football operation. Determine if Donovan McNabb wants to return home and whether the Eagles will make him available in a trade. Consider surrendering two high draft picks to the Cleveland Browns for upstart Derek Anderson. Investigate trading up in the April draft and picking Brian Brohm, Matt Ryan or Andre Woodson. Ponder the intriguing possibility of Sid Luckman, still the only Bear who ever resembled a franchise quarterback, being reincarnated in his leather helmet.
But end this insanity right now about Grossman continuing as the No. 1 man with an inexpensive offseason deal, which was the new mentality at Halas Hall before his injury.
``It didn't look good when he was injured. He didn't finish the game, which never is good,'' Lovie Smith said near midnight by the Beltway. `` It's a serious lower-leg injury that could take awhile.''
Orton, anyone, for the final three games? ``Everyone wants to get a chance and help the team,'' said the forgotten third-stringer. ``That hasn't happened for me the last couple of years, but if this is my chance, I'll be ready.''
As if Grossman's radical performance swings aren't torturous enough, now we have the return of durability issues. Just what is the point of remaining loyal to The Rexperiment, after five years of waiting and hoping and ultimately cringing, when he's an unreliable player who has been injured throughout his pro career? If nothing else, he had remained healthy these past two erratic seasons, shaking the Wrecks Grossman/Rex Glassman tags that dogged him his first three years -- a broken left ankle in 2005, a ruptured right knee ligament in 2004, a finger injury in 2003. But now, four weeks before a season mercifully ends and his free-agency kicks in, he has to deal with another wounded knee, injured when Redskins defensve tackle Cornelius Griffin plowed him into the turf early in the first quarter.
Minutes before, analyst Steve Mariucci had said on the NFL Network: ``Rex Grossman is auditioning for his next contract.''
Turns out he was waiting for his next X-ray.
At least he limped into the tunnel under his own power, unlike the day in Minnesota and the night in St. Louis when he was carted off. Jason Campbell, Washington's work-in-progress quarterback, wasn't as fortunate. On an evening when the motorized cart at FedEx Field got quite a workout, Campbell was whisked away in the second quarter after a similar, hard-to-watch bend of his knee, resulting in a dislocated kneecap.
Neither team is going anywhere without a serious, healthy quarterback. It's hardly coincidence that the NFL's four best teams feature elite QBs -- New England and Tom Brady, Dallas and Tony Romo, Green Bay and Brett Favre, Indianapolis and Peyton Manning. Why have the Bears reached one Super Bowl since 1985? Because they've had a pathetic succession of passers in that period. I'm tired of running through the list, the CIty of Big Shoulders curse.
I want Angelo to do his job and fix the black hole. But is he capable when he can't even acknowledge his mistake?
``I certainly can't look at anything from a personnel standpoint that we look back at and would have done a little bit differently,'' he said. ``I'm not really one to do that as we're living in the present and certainly moving forward.''
Having plummeted into the NFL dregs, the Bears are at a crossroads. They must replace a decrepit offensive line that might lead any quarterback to get hurt, even Favre the ironman. They must find a legitimate running back. They must address issues at receiver, especially if Bernard Berrian -- who made a spectacular, elbows-down touchdown catch late in the third quarter -- signs elsewhere. Even more troubling are the holes of a once-dominant defense, which played OK against the depleted Redskins but has been manhandled of late and makes us question if Smith's pride and joy -- and the reason he's an NFL head coach -- is falling apart.
But first and foremost, the Bears must locate a quarterback for once in our lives. As we saw the previous few years, it doesn't matter how awesome your defense is if the quarterback sabotages your total cause. ``You don't build a team around one player,'' Angelo protested.
In the Bears' case, you do. It's beyond ridiculous that a team founded in 1920 calls Luckman its only great quarterback. The best during my 16 years in town was Erik Kramer, a journeyman by any name.
Lately, the Bears haven't hid their desire to bring back Grossman. To his credit, he decided to have more fun after reclaiming the starting position from Griese last month. He joked that he'd already blown his hoped-for big contract and just wanted to show he could play after his September benching. ``I want to maintain a level of performance that people can expect,'' Grossman said recently. ``That's my No. 1 goal in my career now -- to just play at a high level and stay there and stay at a version of that for the rest of my career.''
He can't. It's not in the cards, the karma. As for Griese, he was left to explain the pick that killed the Bears. ``Shawn Springs didn't move an inch,'' he said. ``With a guy like Devin, you'd think (Springs) would give a little bit. He just sat there, made the easy play.''
And the season that wasn't? ``It's tough,'' Griese said. ``Our goal was to obviously get back (to the Super Bowl) and finish business.''
That can't be done with the current quarterbacks. That hasn't been done with any Chicago quarterback since Jim McMahon. As Bill Parcells points out, poor quarterbacking is the reason for so many mediocre teams. At 5-8 -- and no longer a winning operation -- the Bears fit that ugly description.
With Bears at a crossroad, Grossman's knee injury should close this chapter on the Bears' perennial and futile quarterback search
December 7, 2007
BY JAY MARIOTTI Sun-Times Columnist
LANDOVER, Md. -- With the gnarled, hideous twist of his left knee, followed by the mortified moans of human beings who know body parts don't bend that way, Rex Grossman was gone. And with his departure Thursday night came the final, conclusive piece of evidence supporting an inarguable truth.
He cannot be the Bears quarterback any longer.
Nor can Brian Griese, who replaced Grossman and allegedly threw two balls toward Devin Hester that wound up in the mitts of Redskins late in the first half. He played better later, but not well enough to avoid a 24-16 loss that puts the Bears out of their 2007 misery. If Kyle Orton would like to play next week, fine, but I'm thinking a better idea might be the bucking-bronco loon who rushed onto the field toward the Bears defense and had to be subdued by 10 cops. At least he had a pulse, though my first thought was Billy Ligue and his kid at U.S. Cellular Field and how such a security lapse still can happen these days.
It officially can be declared now that The Rex Era was a monumental error in Chicago sports history, as some of us have known for some time. This means Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith need to move on to Plan Q -- or is it R or S? -- as the Bears enter a tense transition period following their one-and-done Super Bowl loss and rapid demise as a pro football operation. Determine if Donovan McNabb wants to return home and whether the Eagles will make him available in a trade. Consider surrendering two high draft picks to the Cleveland Browns for upstart Derek Anderson. Investigate trading up in the April draft and picking Brian Brohm, Matt Ryan or Andre Woodson. Ponder the intriguing possibility of Sid Luckman, still the only Bear who ever resembled a franchise quarterback, being reincarnated in his leather helmet.
But end this insanity right now about Grossman continuing as the No. 1 man with an inexpensive offseason deal, which was the new mentality at Halas Hall before his injury.
``It didn't look good when he was injured. He didn't finish the game, which never is good,'' Lovie Smith said near midnight by the Beltway. `` It's a serious lower-leg injury that could take awhile.''
Orton, anyone, for the final three games? ``Everyone wants to get a chance and help the team,'' said the forgotten third-stringer. ``That hasn't happened for me the last couple of years, but if this is my chance, I'll be ready.''
As if Grossman's radical performance swings aren't torturous enough, now we have the return of durability issues. Just what is the point of remaining loyal to The Rexperiment, after five years of waiting and hoping and ultimately cringing, when he's an unreliable player who has been injured throughout his pro career? If nothing else, he had remained healthy these past two erratic seasons, shaking the Wrecks Grossman/Rex Glassman tags that dogged him his first three years -- a broken left ankle in 2005, a ruptured right knee ligament in 2004, a finger injury in 2003. But now, four weeks before a season mercifully ends and his free-agency kicks in, he has to deal with another wounded knee, injured when Redskins defensve tackle Cornelius Griffin plowed him into the turf early in the first quarter.
Minutes before, analyst Steve Mariucci had said on the NFL Network: ``Rex Grossman is auditioning for his next contract.''
Turns out he was waiting for his next X-ray.
At least he limped into the tunnel under his own power, unlike the day in Minnesota and the night in St. Louis when he was carted off. Jason Campbell, Washington's work-in-progress quarterback, wasn't as fortunate. On an evening when the motorized cart at FedEx Field got quite a workout, Campbell was whisked away in the second quarter after a similar, hard-to-watch bend of his knee, resulting in a dislocated kneecap.
Neither team is going anywhere without a serious, healthy quarterback. It's hardly coincidence that the NFL's four best teams feature elite QBs -- New England and Tom Brady, Dallas and Tony Romo, Green Bay and Brett Favre, Indianapolis and Peyton Manning. Why have the Bears reached one Super Bowl since 1985? Because they've had a pathetic succession of passers in that period. I'm tired of running through the list, the CIty of Big Shoulders curse.
I want Angelo to do his job and fix the black hole. But is he capable when he can't even acknowledge his mistake?
``I certainly can't look at anything from a personnel standpoint that we look back at and would have done a little bit differently,'' he said. ``I'm not really one to do that as we're living in the present and certainly moving forward.''
Having plummeted into the NFL dregs, the Bears are at a crossroads. They must replace a decrepit offensive line that might lead any quarterback to get hurt, even Favre the ironman. They must find a legitimate running back. They must address issues at receiver, especially if Bernard Berrian -- who made a spectacular, elbows-down touchdown catch late in the third quarter -- signs elsewhere. Even more troubling are the holes of a once-dominant defense, which played OK against the depleted Redskins but has been manhandled of late and makes us question if Smith's pride and joy -- and the reason he's an NFL head coach -- is falling apart.
But first and foremost, the Bears must locate a quarterback for once in our lives. As we saw the previous few years, it doesn't matter how awesome your defense is if the quarterback sabotages your total cause. ``You don't build a team around one player,'' Angelo protested.
In the Bears' case, you do. It's beyond ridiculous that a team founded in 1920 calls Luckman its only great quarterback. The best during my 16 years in town was Erik Kramer, a journeyman by any name.
Lately, the Bears haven't hid their desire to bring back Grossman. To his credit, he decided to have more fun after reclaiming the starting position from Griese last month. He joked that he'd already blown his hoped-for big contract and just wanted to show he could play after his September benching. ``I want to maintain a level of performance that people can expect,'' Grossman said recently. ``That's my No. 1 goal in my career now -- to just play at a high level and stay there and stay at a version of that for the rest of my career.''
He can't. It's not in the cards, the karma. As for Griese, he was left to explain the pick that killed the Bears. ``Shawn Springs didn't move an inch,'' he said. ``With a guy like Devin, you'd think (Springs) would give a little bit. He just sat there, made the easy play.''
And the season that wasn't? ``It's tough,'' Griese said. ``Our goal was to obviously get back (to the Super Bowl) and finish business.''
That can't be done with the current quarterbacks. That hasn't been done with any Chicago quarterback since Jim McMahon. As Bill Parcells points out, poor quarterbacking is the reason for so many mediocre teams. At 5-8 -- and no longer a winning operation -- the Bears fit that ugly description.