I’ve got to think that Lovie Smith is praising the football gods that Brian Griese’s shoulder is apparently injured enough to keep him out of action at least for the time being. This avoids, or maybe sidesteps—nah, just postpones—the latest in an interminably long string of Bears QB controversies. Rex’s football career in Chicago is probably still dead, but it’s not quite buried just yet. We’ll have a zombie under center come Sunday.
I’ve got to believe that Rex sleeps with his copy of How To Win Friends And Influence People under his pillow every night. How else to explain the fact that every last one of his teammates seems to really, really, really like him? OK, Grossman visibly lifted the mood of the team in 2005 when he took over for Kyle Orton late in the season. But that was easy to excuse. The team thought they were trading in an in-over-his-head rookie for their franchise quarterback. And they all rallied ’round Rex last year, but that was easy to excuse too. The team was winning games on their way to an NFC championship and a Super Bowl appearance. But a recently disgraced Grossman dragging himself off the bench to sub for an injured Brian Griese, and bringing such a lift to the spirits of the whole team even before his game-winning TD pass? Not so easy to explain, except that everyone really, really, really likes him a whole lot. I don’t know. Maybe he hands out $100 bills in the locker room or something.
But unless Grossman plays like he’s never played before, the QB controversy will come up again. Griese had a chance to establish himself, and he even looked for a brief while like he might do just that. Then he regressed to the tune of four interceptions in one game.
I submit that, at least among the fans, the once and future QB controvery isn’t gonna be Grossman vs. Griese. It’s Grossman/Griese vs. Orton. This season is a lost cause unless the Bears pull off some miraculous resurgence to get back into serious playoff contention. Why not see what you’ve got already on your roster? I can’t blame anyone for thinking that way. Plus, a whole lot of people are still thinking fondly about that impressive run that Orton made when pressed into service in 2005. Problem is that the Bears were winning in spite of him, not because of him. Of course, it was this same sin that got Grossman kicked out of Eden, but hey—who knows! Maybe Orton, despite not taking a meaninful snap in almost two years now, has improved in the meantime. Ah, absence. How she doth make the heart grow fonder.
