# So Should Chicago Pull Grossman or Not?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 4, 2006, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781 "2006-12-04T02:12:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2006, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781/1 "2006-12-04T02:12:06Z")
[Linky](http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/bears/158671,120306bearwin.article), before his “performance” today he was rated [21st out of 30 QBs.](http://www.nfl.com/stats/leaders/NFL/PRAT/2006/regular) Don’t know what he will rank tomorrow. Griese offer anything to justify switch? :dubious:
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### Author:  [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781/2 "2006-12-04T02:14:57Z")
They’ve won their division with him, so he can’t be too bad.
I’m more inclined to blame today’s showing on the weather, since Brad Johnson wasn’t exactly setting the world ablaze under center for the Vikings.
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### Author:  [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2006, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781/3 "2006-12-04T02:26:20Z")
The only thing I really know about Griese is that he scored really high on the QB IQ test that they do. He was run out of Denver and I don’t really know why as I’m not a Denver fan and I don’t really pay attention to them. The only thing I can come up with is that he wasn’t John Elway…he has a career QB rating of 84.2 which isn’t too bad.
Chicago has essentially wrapped up the NFC and sexy Rexy has played like ass the past month or so. Why not give Grossman a break and throw in Brian Griese before the games get too important? The worst thing that could happen is that Brian Griese plays well and you have a quarterback controversy come playoff time. I don’t really think that’s a bad thing.
As you can tell, I’m not one of these people that thinks you _owe_ something to the starting quarterback.
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### Author:  [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2006, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781/4 "2006-12-04T02:44:33Z")
He DID manage to avoid a 0.0 quarterback rating for the day. What more could you ask for?
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### Author:  [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2006, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781/5 "2006-12-04T02:56:06Z")
[QUOTE=Snooooopy]
He DID manage to avoid a 0.0 quarterback rating for the day. What more could you ask for?
[/QUOTE]
I didn’t even realize it was possible to get a 1.3 rating (or whatever that decimal was.) I figured the rating had a bottom floor higher than 0, like in the 20s or something.
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### Author:  [@some\_white\_dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/some_white_dude)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2006, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781/6 "2006-12-04T02:58:20Z")
IIRC, Griese had a decent year going last year in Tampa Bay before getting injured. I think they should take a look at him. With their defense, they should only need a barely competent QB to go far in the playoffs, but Grossman just hasn’t fit that description recently.
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### Author:  [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2006, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781/7 "2006-12-04T03:08:55Z")
I’m sorry, that should be a 2.8 rating. More than twice as good as I thought I had heard.
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### Author:  [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2006, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781/8 "2006-12-04T03:14:28Z")
Grossman was flat out gross today, man. It reminded of the glory days with Chad Hutchinson and Craig Krenzel.
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### Author:  [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2006, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781/9 "2006-12-04T03:20:34Z")
[QUOTE=asterion]
I’m sorry, that should be a 2.8 rating. More than twice as good as I thought I had heard.
[/QUOTE]
It was 1.3. I do recall the 2.8 figure being flashed on the screen, but that was before he missed on yet another pass.
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### Author:  [@Lips\_Obsession](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lips_Obsession)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781/10 "2006-12-04T19:10:39Z")
I didn’t get to see the game here in Cleveland (where we have another champion QB…) but I think Rex got lucky in the early part of the year… Give Griese a chance to get a couple games under his belt before the playoffs start. God knows he could use the practice.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781/11 "2006-12-04T19:17:26Z")
Is there any reason to believe Griese would do better than Grossman? He’s had several chances to be a starter. The Bears have the division locked up and they will probably have homefield advantage, so I think they would be well-served to let Grossman keep going. If he sucks for two more weeks, maybe they’d have to think about a change, but there’s no urgency right now.
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### Author:  [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2006, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781/12 "2006-12-04T19:33:32Z")
Grossman has been playing incredibly inconsistently, but that’s different from playing consistently badly. The only way for a QB to get more consistent is with experience. Grossman’s play at the beginning of the year indicated that he has some potential, but it has to be developed.
The question for the Bears is whether they think Rex is the man. If they think he is, they should play him, especially now that they’ve already clinched their division. Get him as much experience as you can, because that’s the only way he’ll get better. The more he plays in the regular season, the better he’ll do in the playoffs.
If they don’t think he’s their guy (I don’t think he should be), Griese gives them a better chance to win.
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> Is there any reason to believe Griese would do better than Grossman? He’s had several chances to be a starter. The Bears have the division locked up and they will probably have homefield advantage, so I think they would be well-served to let Grossman keep going. If he sucks for two more weeks, maybe they’d have to think about a change, but there’s no urgency right now.
Griese’s a better starter than a lot of the guys in the league. I think he’s gotten a raw deal - he was run out of Denver for not being John Elway. His biggest drawback is that he’s kind of fragile - he’s never played a full 16 game season. Still, take a look at his career stats [here](http://profootballreference.com/players/GrieBr00.htm). His career passer rating is 84.9 - that would put him 12th in the league right now. Grossman’s rating for this year is 72.0 - 26th.
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### Author:  [@Lips\_Obsession](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lips_Obsession)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2006, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781/13 "2006-12-07T17:29:48Z")
Weren’t most of Grossman’s “good” games this year against weak teams early this year?
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### Author:  [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781/14 "2006-12-07T17:44:03Z")
They are 10-2 in spite of him, not because of him. The last seven weeks he has been worse than Micheal Vick. You owe it to the team, organization and fans to at least see what Griese can do in this offense. You will not win meaningful playoff games with that kind of production from the QB, unless the defense shuts everyone out. Lovie Smith cannot allow his feelings to cloud his judgement- being loyal to Grossman could cost him his job. The comments by Urlacher after the game clearly show that the defense is frustrated and continued poor play from the QB may cause a huge rift between the offense and defense. Yes, the Ravens won the Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer, an average quarterback at best, but Dilfer did not make the big mistakes Rexy is making, and Jamal Lewis was a much more productive back that year than the current Bears backs.
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### Author:  [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781/15 "2006-12-07T17:53:54Z")
Was at Sunday’s game and Grossman was atrocious. The Bears just happen to have an amazing defense but if they play a team with a real running game then I think they are in trouble.
The NFC is so crap though that they should make it to the Superbowl.
If they need to rely on Grossman well then I don’t think it will happen. He has been wildly inconsistent though he was great against Seattle who are one of the better NFC teams…not that that is saying much!
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### Author:  [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2006, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781/16 "2006-12-07T18:07:59Z")
I totally agree that Rex needs time to develop into a better quarterback; it’s the only way to learn the game. However I also think that as far as our playoff/Super bowl hopes go, we don’t have that time to offer him _right now_.
The real decision as I see it is does the Lovie Smith/McCaskey Front Office think that this level of overall play is sustainable for next season, because leaving Grossman in is essentially throwing in the towel as far as serious competition is concerned. Rex really isn’t doing anything more than Kyle Orton did last year, which is not screw it up so badly that the defense and special teams can’t fix it.
Griese needs to come in now, get used to the offense in a real time situation so that he can do the same preventative job that Rex does, just without all the INTs.
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### Author:  [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781/17 "2006-12-07T18:11:04Z")
Look, all the Bears need to do is punt on first down every time.
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781/18 "2006-12-07T18:21:41Z")
They’re playing indoors this week. If he sucks _even_ within the confines of a maintained environment then yeah, can his butt.
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### Author:  [@Dumbguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dumbguy)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781/19 "2006-12-07T20:29:29Z")
I don’t see the upside in Grossman. They keep saying he needs playing time, but Rivers and Romo are completely outclassing him, and Losman, Frye, and Leinart are all playing better than Grossman, even on bad teams.
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### Author:  [@HoboStew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoboStew)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-should-chicago-pull-grossman-or-not/382781/20 "2006-12-07T20:57:32Z")
I dunno, changing QBs at this stage of the game is risky. If you pull Grossman, you undermine his confidence. If Griese doesn’t pan out (and lets not forget, other than Muhsin Muhammad the bears don’t have a single offensive player that I’d describe as ‘above average’) then you are really in trouble. I’d let Grossman finish the season, for good or for ill, then reevaluate the situation in the offseason.
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