I think it’s more likely that Smith and Bears management are reluctant to give up on Grossman completely. It’s his first full season. I agree that Grossman isn’t up to Trent Dilfer’s level.
With the possible exception of Frye in Cleveland - just because I don’t know about the Browns’ production - I would say that all of those QBs have more offensive weapons than Grossman does.
They’re sure not helping him with their playcalling, though. Against the Pats, they called as many passes as they did rushing plays. The Bears were never behind by more than 7 points, and Jones and Benson were averaging about 4.5 yards a carry. There’s no reason to have Grossman slinging the ball against a 3-4 defense that’s tough for veteran QBs to figure out - pound the ball on the ground. It takes time, sure, but you’re only down 1 score.
They roasted Grossman on NFL Live the other day. Totally killed him, and they even used game film as evidence.
As somebody else pointed out, the early successes (and great passer ratings) were mostly against crappy teams. Worse than that, though, was they dissected some film from those earlier games. They showed examples of Rex heaving it up into triple coverage in the end zone, resulting in Moose coming up with a spectacular catch.
According to what they showed and explained, Rex is exactly the same guy now as he was in the early part of the season. He’s making the same bonehead decisions and bad throws he’s always made. The difference is that he got remarkably lucky in the early games when his receivers bailed him out. That is an iffy proposition at best against bad teams; against good teams it’s certain disaster.
The poor showings he’s had against bad teams (Arizona, Miami) is a simple regression to the mean where his iffy bad decisions and throws came up snake eyes enough to offset the lucky breaks early on. Basically, Fido is a bust.
I find him interesting in the context of another ongoing debate I’ve engaged in, and that’s the “sit on the bench” formula for success. I expected Rivers to be good in San Diego because it is obvious to me that sitting on the bench a couple years is a surefire way to get the most out of a young QB. I call it the Chad Pennington effect. The Chad, Marc Bulger, Carson Palmer, Tony Romo, Philip Rivers; the list is quite long with success stories.
Conversely, I’ve asked before for a single example of a QB that sat on the bench for a couple years, came in and struggled like a rookie, and then later went on to be successful. Nobody has ever been able to come up with one. Will Grossman be the first? I doubt it. At this point in his career, he is what he is. And it ain’t pretty.
Buffalo, Cleveland, and Arizona are 29th, 30th, and 32nd in the league in rushing. They’re also all in the bottom half of the league in sacks allowed, whereas the Bears are 5th best.
Here’s all I need to know about Grossman: In games where he manages to throw less than three interceptions, the Bears are undefeated (8-0). And yet in a third of their games, he couldn’t even manage that.
Those teams all have better receivers. I’m not trying to tell you that Grossman isn’t stinking up the joint.
Can anybody remember the last good QB the bears had? The best I can think of is Jim Harbaugh. Anyway Rex was the first QB we had seen in a long time that looked anything like a winner. The coaches are desparate for him to pan out and start playing like an NFL. What else can they do? They can put in Greise and hope he doesn’t get knocked out before the playoffs. If I were the coach I’d give Rex one half of the Rams game to prove he can play. If he can’t make it through two quarters without screwing up, pull him.
The punky QB was great when healthy. Of course, he was rarely healthy, especially after Charles Martin body-slammed him in 1986. :mad:
Arizona certainly does, and if you (righly) count Winslow I’ll give you Cleveland, but Buffalo? … Holy shit, after looking at Buffalo’s numbers, you’re right. That’s just sad.
Erik Kramer, though I had to look it up on pro-football-reference. It’s tough to judge what a good quarterback is, though, especially if the requirement is that they got good pretty quickly and stayed good throughout their career. Certainly there is no Dan Marino or Peyton Manning in the Bears’ past.
An arbitrary citeria of a season with…
2006 Rex Grossman is close: 198 of 365 (54.2%) for 2428 yards (6.7), 18 TDs 17 Ints (72.04 rating)
1997 Erik Kramer came close: 275 of 477 (57.7) for 3011 yards (6.3), 14 TDs 14 Ints (73.98 rating)
1995 Erik Kramer lit it up: 315 of 522 (60.3) for 3838 yards (7.4), 29 TDs 10 Ints (93.54 rating)
1992 Jim Harbaugh just missed: 202 of 358 (56.4) for 2486 yards (6.9), 13 TDs 12 Ints (76.18 rating)
1991 Jim Harbaugh came close: 275 of 478 (57.5) for 3121 yards (6.5), 15 TDs 16 Ints (73.74 rating)
1985 Jim McMahon came close: 178 of 313 (56.9) for 2392 yards (7.6), 15 TDs 11 Ints (82.65 rating)
1965 Rudy Bukich rocked the house: 176 of 312 (56.4) for 2641 yards (8.5), 20 TDs 9 Ints (93.71 rating)
1963 Bill Wade came close: 192 of 356 (53.9) for 2301 yards (6.5), 15 TDs 12 Ints (73.96 rating)
1961 Bill Wade lit it up: 139 of 250 (55.6) for 2258 yards (9.0), 22 TDs 13 Ints (93.72 rating)
Setting the bar firmly in the territory of mediocrity, in the past 50 years the Bears have fielded a good passer in three seasons, and came close to fielding a good passer another six times. This puts things in perspective; even with his current struggles Grossman is still one of the greatest passers in Bears history. That’s fucking pathetic.
Here’s a list of Bears QB’s going back 20 years, these are not all the QB’s just the ones I remember as starters, feel free to correct me if I included or excluded someone I shouldn’t have.
McManhon
Flutie
Tomczak
Willis
Walsh
Kramer
Krieg
Stentstrom
Mattews
McNown
Miller
Chandler
Burris
Stewart
Hutchinson
Orton
This has nothing to do with the Rex situation, its just a very large list.
Rex Grossman went to my high school (graduated a few years before me.) His family is well known here and his father is a successful doctor. Interestingly, they are NOT Jewish, although many assume them to be.
What? Where did this come from? Did I miss a post or something?
I would put Griese in. I think he is a much better QB. Grossman has been lucky that his defense and special teams have supported his abysmal playing.