You didn't ask, but I'm going to tell you

(I'm also going to preface this whole thing by saying that I'm no football expert, and most of my information comes from SI.com.  I also watch Sportscenter.  So don't get on my back if I get some little facts wrong, because as long as those facts don't ruin the distilled argument here, I'm not interested.  This is just an opinion, and it's not even a historically backed one, since this is the first football season I've followed in any detail.  So back off, buddies.)

Okay.  On Monday, my cousin J emailed me about the whole Super Bowl thing, and one of the things that came out about the whole thing is that I really, really think that the Bears need a new quarterback, now.  I was all for supporting Sexy Rexy during the season, but the bloom is off the rose.  I know it was only his first year, and I'm trying to be fair here; he may get loads better and rock the field next year.  But I don't necessarily think he will, and I'll tell you what I do think (and this is just basically a paraphrase of what I told J):  I think that the entire rest of the Bears team is basically primed to win the Bowl.  And I think it's a small window of opportunity you have to win that game, and I think the Bears are in that small window.   However, Grossman is patently NOT in that window.  And I don't think he'll be in that window next year.  So I think the Bears need to do something, find someone that will quarterback significantly better than Grossman did.  I'm not sure what should be done with Grossman, but that ultimately doesn't matter to me.  If the Bears don't find someone whose skill level matches the rest of the team's, we've got a problem.

I want to stress that I came up with this position and feeling all on my own; on Monday night, my dad im'd me, telling me that he was back in the frozen tundra that is IL (he was in FL for a little while before that).  And we naturally set to talking about the Bears, and I told him the same thing I told J.  This happened on Monday.  This morning, I was catching up at SI, and found this article, by Peter King.  Please go read it now.  I'll hum quietly to myself as you do.

Okay.  Done?  See what King's saying?  He's saying what I was saying.  I'm not saying Peter King is the omnipotent master of all things football, but I do enjoy him and his column very much.  And it's nice to have some national news media back-up on my feelings.  It makes me think that maybe I'm not so off-base in the way I think about football, and that maybe I should keep thinking about football.  And I swear to God, I am right about the Bears.  At least in this one thing.  It'll be very interesting to see what happens in the next few months.

(By the way, and this is non sequiter, but I've typed the last few sentences with fleece gloves on.  My hands just can't get warm.)

*****Update, sort of.  Tim and I had a fairly long conversation via IM today about this subject, re: his feelings about Rex and the whole situation.  Frankly, he knows a lot more than me about this stuff, and he did make a pretty good case for Rex.  However, and this is something that sort of was a conclusion of mine at the end of this, I still think Rex is a problem.  I'm sort of convinced that the Bears can't do anything but go into training camp allowing a little competition between Griese and Grossman for the number one position.  I don't know if they can bring someone else in.  That doesn't mean I still don't think they should, but the situation being what it is, I'm not sure what else can be done.  I also don't think that Grossman's problems are at all physical.  That wasn't clear in my above ranting, but it's the case.  I'm sure he's fine physically, but it's his mental problems I worry about.  Can he overcome whatever is wrong with his mental state?  I've got no idea, but being the sports pessimist I am, I lean towards no.  Either way, like I said, it's kind of a clusterfuck, what with contracts and crap options and etc.  I guess we'll see what we see. 

Comments

[Tim]

I think your reasoning is sound, but the King part, not so much. I read his stuff all the time, and he's very informed, but 4 of his 5 suggestions are somewhere between bad and insane.
1. David Carr isn't very good, and he's been sacked roughly a million times in his career. He's got a lot of mileage for a young guy, and if you're going to trade for him you may as well just start Griese (who's shown more ability in his career than Carr) instead.
2. Jeff Garcia is on the insane end of the spectrum. Garcia had fewer great games for the Eagles this year than Grossman had for the Bears. He's 37 years old, and throughout his career has only been successful in variations of the west coast offense, which the Bears don't run. This would be monumentally stupid. Again, starting Griese is a better option.
3. The only smart thing he said.
4. Peter King has been the sole rider on the Jake Plummer bandwagon for several years now. He apparently still thinks it's 1997, and Plummer is taking Arizona St. whithin a whisker of the national title. Everything you don't like about Rex (bad decisions, etc.), you won't like about Jake Plummer. He's like Rex without potential.
5. Hard to decide if this or the Garcia option is the most insane. Troy Smith is the black Rex Grossman, with less arm strength. He's a small, pocket passer who, like Rex, looked awful in the biggest game of his career. No one's going to take him in the first round, and if he starts more than 15 games in his NFL career, I'll eat my hat.

[manogirl]

Interesting, Tim. I don't have the background to make those judgments about Peter King's suggestions, but I trust ya. I'm not saying the Bears should take King's suggestions on WHO to replace Rex with. I'm just saying that they need to take the suggestion to replace him.

[M]

If you didn't already, you should read Rick Morrisey's column in yesterday's Tribune. When Rex was at Florida, there were lots of nasty stories about his dad interferring with Rex's development to a higher level game and putting all sorts of crazy ideas in Rex's mind as how to make high risk plays that would win him the Heisman trophy. Morrisey's column adds credence to the idea that Rex's problems are more mental than physical.

[M]

P.S. I'm with Tim on Troy Smith. He performed terribly at the Senior Bowl which is an unoffical NFL combine.