How the Bears Fans & Rex
Grossman Have Circled the Wagon
What a wild rollercoaster ride the last two seasons have been for
the Bears and quarterback Rex Grossman. For all the criticism Lovie Smith has
heard for remaining with Rex Grossman as the starter, ironically those same
fans, experts and know-it-alls calling for his benching, are the same
hypocritical vacillators who praised Smith for naming Grossman the starter 15
weeks into the 2005 season. Last season,
in the absence of Rex Grossman due to injury, incumbent starter Kyle Orton went 10-5 as the starter
despite owning the worst passer rating in the NFL (59.7). However, Grossman was
perceived as the answer to the Bears offensive woes and Lovie Smith endured the
same questions on who to play. The result-- Orton was benched. The rest as they say is history; or is it?
This season after completing
a 13-3 regular season, Da Bears have been constantly scrutinized, critiqued,
nitpicked and anointed the worst 13-3 team in NFL history. Yet here they are in Super Bowl XL after
dismantling “
In the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, prognosticators,
experts, analysts and fans alike will voice their opinions on the outcome but
one popular opinion about the Bears remains vexing to me. Following the Bears victory against the
Saints in the NFC title game, the New York Times wrote an article titled, ‘Da
Worst’, which proclaimed Rex Grossman was the worst Super Bowl quarterback of
all-time. In another unrelated article
the author had the gall to question whether Grossman should start in the Super
Bowl (as if Brian Griese is the savior. If I couldn’t
fill that role with the Broncos or Bucs, what makes anyone
think he’ll suddenly be Elway
or even Dilfer
now?) and to proclaim Trent Dilfer’s 2001 season as
Joe Montana-like compared to Grossman’s performance in 2006.
While I’m not aligning myself with
the Bears in next week’s Super Bowl, how about we reserve judgment for Rex
Grossman until after the Super Bowl?
After all, do we truly know what defines an adequate Super Bowl
quarterback?
While he’s been wildly inconsistent, Grossman is hardly the worst
quarterback to ever play in the Super Bowl.
Not because, he’s started only started 23 career games, or because of
his sufficient touchdown to interception ratio but because he has yet to play
in one yet. In order for Grossman to
truly become ‘Da Worst’ Super Bowl quarterback of all-time he will have to live
up—or down to some legendarily bad performances along the likes of David Woodley, and Tony Eason.
But for those who don’t know…
While David Woodley is known more as the bridge between the eras of
legendary Dolphins quarterbacks, Bob Griese and Dan Marino he also holds the
dubious distinction of earning the lowest QB rating ever for a Super Bowl
quarterback with a lowly 63.7. In Super Bowl XX against Joe Gibbs’
Washington Redskins, Woodley lived up to his reputation by delivering one of
the most abysmal games ever for a Super Bowl quarterback. After completing a 76 yard pass in the first
quarter, Woodley managed a despondent 21 yards and connected on only 3 of 13
passes on their way to a 27-17 loss; not to mention on his way out of the
Dolphins organization.
However, the benchmark for lowly Super Bowl performances has to be
Tony Eason’s abomination in the 1986 Super Bowl. As a first round pick in the 1983 NFL Draft,
Eason was a 
first
round selection alongside Hall of Fame quarterbacks Jim Kelly, John Elway and
ahead of Dan Marino. En route to leading
the Patriots to Super Bowl XX against the Bears, Eason would finish the regular
season with six more interceptions
than touchdowns and a dismal 67.5
passer rating. Against the Bears in the
Super Bowl, Eason did not disappoint by putting up with a shoddy performance as
he started off 0 for 6 before being yanked in the first quarter, en route to
becoming the first Super Bowl quarterback to fail to complete a pass. The Bears would go on to demolish Eason’s
Patriots 46-20.
Take Ben Roethlisberger’s
performance in Super Bowl XL for example.
Despite his dismal 9-21, two interception performance, he is instead
hailed as the quarterback who returned The Lombardi Trophy to the Pittsburgh
Steelers. Fittingly, this season,
Roethlisberger has been out-performed by Grossman in all aspects of the game.
Though, Grossman is more physically gifted, the quarterback
whose Super Bowl season most parallels the body of work of Rex Grossman, in
terms of stats, is Trent Dilfer of
the 2000 Baltimore Ravens—an average QB leading a team with an impenetrable
defense. After being supplanted into the
starting position midway through the season, Dilfer led the Ravens to Super
Bowl XXXIV despite posting a 76.6 passer rating in the regular season. In the Super Bowl Dilfer managed the game
brilliantly, passing for only 153 yards, one touchdown and ZERO interceptions
as the Ravens nearly shut out Giants in the Super Bowl.
What’s forgotten about that Super Bowl is how horrendous
quarterback Kerry Collins played, as he threw for only 112 yards, accompanied
with four interceptions and zero touchdowns on 15 of 39 passing.
As terrible as
those single game performances were, the ignominious honor for ‘Worst Career
Super Bowl Performances’ unfortunately belongs to the legendary Fran Tarkenton
of the Minnesota Vikings. Despite,
forging a Hall of Fame career Tarkenton threw just one touchdown to six
interceptions in his three Super Bowl appearances (XIII, IX, XI), ultimately
losing all three.
For all the criticism about his
play, it’s Rex Grossman not Brees, Brady, or that other Manning playing on
Super Bowl Sunday. In reality, if you
compared the regular season and career statistics of Rex Grossman to that other Manning, they are almost
identical.
- Grossman’s
regular season stat line- 57.7 completion
pct., 3244 yards, 24 TD, 20 INT and a 77.0 passer rating.
- Manning’s
regular season stat line- 54.6
completion pct., 3193 yards, 23 TD, 20 INT and a 73.9 passer rating
- For his career, Grossman has posted a 72.4 passer
rating in 23 career games while Manning has put up a 77.0 rating in 39
career stats. What most analysts
overlook is that despite being drafted one season before Manning, Grossman
played only seven games in his first three NFL seasons because of injuries
which have slowed his development as a quarterback.
- For their careers, their passer ratings are a
73.2 for Manning and 72.4 for Grossman.
That’s right, the same Manning who was the smart preseason pick to
lead his Giants to Super Bowl XLI. In
fact both quarterbacks suffered through similar late season letdowns. Similar to Eli Manning, Grossman’s biggest
flaw is that, when his confidence takes a dip, he doesn’t have disappointing
games, he plays horrendously.
For example, after the first five weeks of the season, Grossman was
considered to be a viable MVP candidate and the Bears were considered true
favorites to finish the season undefeated.
However, following his fateful Monday Night debacle against the
Cardinals, the wheels seemed to fly off for Grossman and Bad Rex took over.
Yet for all the speculation involving Good Rex/Bad Rex isn’t there
a slight off-chance that Good Rex makes a special Super Bowl appearance. In the four games where Bad Rex has emerged,
Grossman has put up dreadful passer ratings of 36.2, 10.2, 1.3 and 0.0(yikes! albeit in a meaningless game),
along with 13 interceptions in addition to just 200 yards. However, in the
remaining 12 games Good Rex put up an impressive 2800 yards, 22 touchdowns and
7 interceptions.
In the playoffs though, Grossman seems to have gotten back on track
and has quietly had a superior postseason in comparison to his Super Bowl
Sunday counterpart Peyton Manning. The
most notable statistical anomaly of the postseason has been Grossman’s one
interception to Peyton Manning’s six while also posting a superior passer
rating than Manning. Grossman also has
twice the touchdown passes than Peyton Manning despite playing one fewer game
and most importantly, in only his first full season as a starter, Grossman has
gotten to a point that has taken his idol Peyton
Manning nine years to reach.
So after weeks of being constantly asked how bad he truly is, why
hasn’t Rex taken his frustrations out on the media thus far?
In this era where bloated statistics and ESPN highlight reels are
more coveted than wins shouldn’t we shouldn’t we reshape our perceptions, look
deeper than the numbers and come to the realization that wins are the most
significant factors for determining a quarterback’s worth?
Or perhaps Lovie Smith, Rex Grossman and the Chicago Bears already
have.
--D.J.
Dunson