Rex Grossman: The Future of the Chicago Bears

After the first five games of the season the Chicago Bears were sitting pretty at 5 - 0. Everyone knew they had the best defense in the league but everyone was surprised at how much they were scoring. The offense was averaging 31 points per game led by the new starting quarterback Rex Grossman. Then the Bears played the Arizona Cardinals on a Monday Night and Rex Grossman completed just 37 percent of his passes and threw 4 interceptions. The Bears still won the game thanks to the defense and special teams but Rex Grossman finally looked vulnerable. Last week Rex Grossman threw another three interceptions in a loss to the Miami Dolphins. After the first five weeks of the season experts were picking Rex Grossman as the MVP. Now everybody has jumped off the Rex Grossman bandwagon. Not only is he no longer the MVP but a lot of people are now saying he has a lot of flaws. A lot of people are saying the Bears might not be the best team in the NFC and a lot of people are calling for a QB controversy in Chicago.

Whoa, whoa. Let's back up for a second here. Did we forget already that Rex Grossman was the best offensive player in the NFL for the first five weeks? That has to count for something right? I realize that Rex Grossman has now had two bad games but who doesn't have a bad game from time to time? Especially during this season; we've seen Roethlisberger drop off the face of the planet, Carson Palmer hasn't been all that impressive, Eli Manning and Donovan McNabb have both had a game with three interceptions, Bret Favre has a lower QB rating than Grossman, and even Tom Brady has had a four interception game. Let's cut the kid a little slack for not being perfect.

Plus let's think about the situation he's in. If you look at his player profile you'll see Rex Grossman has been in the NFL for 4 seasons, but that's pretty deceiving. Rex Grossman was drafted and 2003 and was expected to be the Chicago Bears starting quarterback. But because of injuries his season has been derailed in each of his first three seasons. Grossman hadn't attempted 100 passes in a season before this one and has already played in more games this year than his first three years combined. Not only that but when Lovie Smith became the Bears' head coach in 2005 Rex Grossman had to learn his fourth different offensive system in seven years dating back to college. Considering his inexperience and learning the new system I'd say Rex Grossman is doing extremely well. Let's say Grossman stays healthy this season and puts up the same number in the second half of the season as he did in the first half of the season. Here is how his first full season will compare to other quarterbacks.

Grossman: 296/520 3698 yards 56.9% 28 TD 20 INT 81.1 Rating
P. Manning: 326/575 3739 yards 56.7% 26 TD 28 INT 71.2 Rating
McNabb: 330/569 3365 yards 58.0% 21 TD 13 INT 77.8 Rating
Vick: 231/421 2936 yards 54.9% 16 TD 8 INT 81.6 Rating
Brady: 264/413 2843 yards 63.9% 18 TD 12 INT 86.5 Rating
Favre: 302/471 3227 yards 64.1% 18 TD 13 INT 85.3 Rating

Now I don't see any numbers here that suggest Rex Grossman is having a bad season or that he should be benched for Brian Griese. Especially when you compare Rex Grossman to the best quarterback in the NFL Peyton Manning; Grossman is on pace to throw almost as many yards as Peyton in his first season but is on pace to throw more touchdowns, less interceptions and have a higher passing percentage and QB rating. If Rex Grossman follows the same career path as Peyton Manning I'm sure a lot of fans in Chicago can live with that.

My only problem with Rex Grossman is that his greatest strength could be his greatest weakness. Rex Grossman went to college at the University of Florida and played two years in Steve Spurrier's Fun N' Gun offense. Before Grossman every one of Spurrier's quarterbacks and failed in the NFL. The reason being that most of them strived in Spurrier's system and when they got to the NFL they no longer had a system like Spurrier's and they fell flat on their face. However, Love Smith was smart enough to see Rex Grossman's ability to throw the deep ball and integrated it into his offense. That's why Grossman has succeeded this season. The problem I don't think you can win in the NFL by throwing the deep pass all the time, the NFL defensive backs are just too good. I've been a fan of the Gators for about twenty years now so I've seen all the Gators' quarterback through the years. Rex Grossman is definitely the most the gifted quarterback that has come through Gainesville. Grossman can become a player who can throw the short pass; he can become a player who controls the game like a Tom Brady or Ben Roethlisberger but so far he hasn't done it. Whenever Grossman gets in trouble or his team gets behind he forced a deep pass even more and the defenders know its coming. Lovie Smith has got to reel Grossman in and explain to him that you can come from behind slowly; you don't have to throw forty yard passes and come back all at once. When Rex Grossman learns that he's going to be a perennial Pro Bowl quarterback.