Blaming Rex Grossman for Bears' loss misses point
The blame lies with Orton's ankle, not Rex
Rick Morrissey
November 10, 2008
If there's anything the 5 1/2-year Rex Grossman era has shown, it's that you can't count on the guy to win a game for you. Doesn't mean he can't win a game that needs to be won, just that you can't count on him to do it.
It's why the boos that rained down on Grossman at times Sunday were silly. He was starting only because Kyle Orton was out with the dreaded "high" ankle sprain (as opposed to the less insidious "low" ankle sprain or the exotic "somewhere-in-between" ankle sprain).
When Grossman sauntered onto Soldier Field in his familiar No. 8 jersey, the people in the stands were expecting ... what, exactly? That he'd pull a game out of his helmet? That after so much inactivity, someone would play Dorothy with an oilcan to his Tin Man rustiness? That he would suddenly morph into the star he had never been?
If you thought all of that was a logical expectation, you had every reason to boo. But if you thought you'd see what you saw Sunday — a guy who finished with a 64.4 passer rating — then, in essence, you were booing Orton's uncooperative ankle.
It's why the Bears lost.
They fell 21-14 to a Titans team that somehow is 9-0, but the defeat wasn't Grossman's fault, or at least it wasn't all his fault, which he tried to communicate after the game. He's the backup for a reason. You didn't need coach Lovie Smith to say "Rex is our quarterback" to know that Rex-as-the-quarterback was the exact problem Sunday.
They needed Orton.
And so the game slipped away in the manner it probably should have late in the fourth quarter, with Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan easily knocking down a Grossman pass meant for Devin Hester.
If watching bad field position being imposed is your idea of a good time, you were in the right place Sunday. Then again, if field position is your thing, a PBS telethon probably gets your blood going too.
When Titans coach Jeff Fisher opted to punt rather than allow Rob Bironas to attempt a 47-yard field goal in the second quarter, it was a commentary on the Bears' offense. It said, "We're down 7-0, but we'll pass up the points because we don't think there's any way in the world that Rex Grossman can take them 91 yards." The abridged version would have been, "Like that's going to happen."
It didn't, of course. The Bears went three-and-out, punted and watched Tennessee tie the game on a four-play, 22-yard "drive."
In a six-drive span, the Bears picked up one first down. And for good measure, Grossman later overthrew an open Hester in the third.
Afterward, the quarterback sounded like a politician offering a passive-voice, "mistakes were made" explanation for what went wrong. Mostly, it sounded as if he wanted it known that he wasn't to blame for the mess.
"There were some opportunities out there to make some plays, and they weren't made, for whatever reason, and that was the difference in the game," he said.
Orton would have made a difference. Until he was knocked out of last week's game, he was playing with loads of confidence. He would have had eight weeks of positive results to tell him that being backed up against a cold goal post was no big deal.
"When I'm out there, I think I'm going to play well," Orton said. "But there's no way you can say, 'Well, I would have made this play or I wouldn't have made that play.' I thought Rex did fine."
Grossman completed 20 of 37 passes for 173 yards and a touchdown. His lone interception was the result of a tipped pass. He was neither Good Rex nor Bad Rex. He was a shrug.
Defensively, the Bears concentrated on stopping the run and dared Kerry Collins to beat them. He completed 30 of 41 passes for 289 yards and two touchdowns, so, yeah, the dare was answered.
"I know they didn't run the ball that much, but when you give up 7-yard passes, 10-yard passes, and guys are running free and unblocked … we're just not getting there," Bears defensive end Alex Brown said. "I don't know. I'm going to stop here before I say something I regret."
A little honesty is always appreciated, especially from a team that doesn't see accountability as a priority. It's why Grossman's comments about missed opportunities stood out so much. He's probably tired of being booed — and blamed. And he's auditioning for next year and another team.
But the league has seen enough of him to know exactly what kind of player he is. When Orton got hurt, the Bears immediately went into their max-protect mode, saying they were lucky enough to have two starting quarterbacks.
Sure. But when it was time for a quarterback to put the team on his back Sunday, there was only one you could count on. And he had a limp.
