1-game strategy: Start Griese

For the sake of argument, accept that Rex Grossman has improved this preseason, despite familiar errors that have been hard to ignore and will be impossible to tolerate during the regular season.

[Bear Fan 51]

David, I am always skeptical of the slant the press takes and then beats that slant to death. Everyone just seems to jump on the bandwagon, but do the statistics back it up?
Romo is the media Darling and Rex is the whiping boy
Romo made the fumble to take his team out of the playoffs,
Rex took his team to the Super Bowl. They both had good games and they both had bad games last season?
How do the two compare on stats from last season and how do they compare on results?
Therefore do either one merit the media perspective that they have?
PS Please do not bring the media favorite Farve into this discussion as his bad games and number of interceptions never apply!

[Bearrier4ever]

Grossman will prove to be one of the elite QB's in the NFL this year. David Haugh (typo a letter "L" for "H" in his last name is all I could do when I read) this worthless article. Note to self (and others) save time daily, don't read any more articles by David Laugh. Get a life, Laugh. Maybe Haugh can try covering water polo, he's most always all wet.

[patrick]

Great idea! If you are a newspaper writer who cannot think of anything serious to write..!

[Osos41]

It never ceases to amaze me. Take a frustrated non-athlete, turn him into a marginal writer in a small, no-consequence suburban newspaper ($125-a week errand boys as Joe Willie Namath once called them), move him into a failing circulation urban daily and what you get is talk radio, David Haugh, Jay Mariotti and ESPN.... ohhh forget it! At least respect the professional competence of a Lovie Smith and the intelligence of readers who know the difference.

[Rico]

Dave, you've finally done it!

YOU'VE LOST YOUR MIND!

With your "lose-lose strategy", the fall-out would be unbelievable. What would there be to gain??

Griese, playing 6 or 9 plays would prove nothing.

All that will happen is that Grossman's stature will be undermined.

If you're so concerned about just how Griese will perform "if he is thrust into the fray" --- let's wait until he is, indeed, "thrust into the fray".

Whether he played less than a dozen plays in a meanless game in August, will be immaterial, since, at that point, we will have no choice.

[Rico]

Just read the article with Kreutz' comments about media negativity.

He's absolutely correct!!

Must you (and others) create conflict in order to maintain your jobs?? Can't you sell your rags by being creatively supportive??

Why do you go out of your way beat down people who are infinitely more talented than you??

Must you (and others) constantly denigrate the efforts of "our players"??

Do you feel inadequate??

I think that it's about time that the sports fans of this town stand up for common decency.

There is a term in psychology for people such as you. And I'm not going to tell you what it is!!

I'm going to see if you're talented enough to find out by yourself!!

[Walter]

The idea of pre-season games is to give the players who will be working together -- i.e. the first string -- as much time as possible to get accustomed to each other's moves. To start Griese in the final tune-up would interrupt that process. And in watching him in the 3rd quarter in the last game wasn't all that confidence building that he could lead the Bears to another conference championship better than Grossman who did do so.

[Chet]

This is probably the dumbest article I have ever read.

[rollsd]

yes 10,000 times yes

[black dragon]

Get over it Rex is the man on this team. Stop the hate you and every other sucker has for the man. You cant stand it when hes good. Doesnt make for a lot of Griese talk. Brett Farve had the same kind of a rocky up and down start, but the pack fan are glad he stayed the starter.STOP the hate

[casey]

Oh yeah,start your #1 qb in a meaningless pre season game and have a 300 lb lineman fall on him and break his wrist.Could happen.Then what? Hello mr Griese, welcome to the 1st game of the season.Anyhoo,Chicago wont have the luxury of a soft schedule as they did last year and their stats will show it.

[Rich]

You insist that making this move for one game wouldn't mean anything. But the rest of the column seems to be a bunch of references to Grossman's spotty play. Your reason for putting Griese in is so the Bears can "find out" how he and the first-string offense would play together in case they have to in a real game. Are you suggesting that the outcome of that experiment would change the decision-making, if Grossman got injured and had to come out?

From a casual reader's perspective, it smells like you're hoping management would be so happy with Giese's play that they would make the change permanent.

[maurice]

I've come to my senses. Grossman for the Bears organization represents-The Future! Period. Brian Griese, is better because he has Experience; but, Grossman has the "upside" in unrealized talent". Lovie, I believe, is of the mind to let Grossman "play" through his freshman/sophomore butterflies, and one day, this guy will be a Bret Farve. This is the organizations thinking. Greises clearly beat him out last year, and should have started the season last year. But, last year is over. Injury prone wise, I think at Griese's age he is just as likely to be injuried and out for the year as well as Grossman. We need the one two punch of Grossman/Griese. Sorry, Orton is not: Ready for Prime Time-yet!

[ejeff2001]

I still don't understand all the QB ideas coming from the media. I've seen Brian Griese start and play in many games. He's traveled around the NFL. If Griese was a better fit than Rex Grossman, the Bears would never have been able to sign him. He would still be starting for the Dolphins. Maybe if Drew Brees was on the bench, or Carson Palmer I might agree and push for a QB change or at least a look-see. But not Griese, he is a backup on just about all NFL teams. Rex, like most NFL QB's, will throw interceptions and sometimes even fumble a ball or two. In time, the mistakes will diminish and he will be fine. Please folks, let him develop. It might take more than two years.

[Tim]

Remember the '70's Pittburg Steelers? That Terry Bradshaw guy was awful, terrible, intercepted and perceived as downright dumb for four whole years before that team became the Steelers of legend.

Grossman has already got us to the big game once while making similar mistakes. Knock off all this negativity for gawd's sake!

[Charles ONeal]

Let's remember that Lovie Smith is one of the brightest coach's in the league and he did take you to a Super Bowl for the first time in decades. Grossman, for his age has relatively little experience due to injuries and also played a vital roll in getting to the big game. It is easy to overlook the fact that when playing well his stats were excellent. Writers and fans in Tampa used to criticize Lovie's old head coach and mentor too - but they sure wish they had him back now!

[Tdub]

Right on. Best perspective/analysis ever seen in a sports report! Play Griese (not to Rex-dis).

[I love football]

Just plain dumb. David, stop being a follower to the media and write something original. Some story ideas for you: the Bear's Care program works with young inner city football players that played during half time on Saturday. I was at the game and it was fun to watch. What was that like for those kids? An article on Greg Olsen. The guy is great and I'd like to know more about him and his fit within the team. Stop being a follower and try something new. You might actually like it.

[annieF]

stupid. no... more like, moronic. i'm so incredibly sick of the suggestions that brian griese is even remotely any better than rex and therefore deserving of playing time! rex hasn't performed poorly enough to warrant losing his job... certainly not to brian griese!(i'd prefer kyle orton as #2 backup) i think bears fans and sportswriters need to start looking around at some other nfl franchises like minnesota, atlanta, or tampa bay... now they have qb issues... the bears don't. done.

[Ditkajr]

Can we stop saying Grossman got us to the superbowl already? The defense and special teams did! If you all love Grossman so much, then why do you all have problems with starting Griese for one game. We all know it won't change anything. If Griese plays poorly, we'll never mention replacing Grossman again. However, if he plays well, hopefully everyone will see the light, including lovie.