When Rex Grossman sets foot on the turf in the new Lucas Oil Stadium opening night to take on the Colts as the starting QB for the Chicago Bears, and believe me, he WILL be the starter, he will have something in his back pocket that perhaps he never expected to have again. Support from the fans back home.
Here's what Larry Mayer, writer for ChicagoBears.com had to report on a few recent polls taken by the website of the Monsters Of The Midway:
"According to recent poll results on ChicagoBears.com, Bears fans think that quarterback Rex Grossman and rookie running back Matt Forte will start the season opener, Grossman will lead NFC North quarterbacks in touchdown passes in 2008 and Chris Williams will have the best NFL career among the Bears’ top three draft picks.
Here’s a breakdown of the numbers:
When asked to select the quarterback/running back tandem they expect to start the season opener in Indianapolis, 39.5 percent of the 23,126 respondents voted for Grossman/Forte, 34.6 percent chose Grossman/Cedric Benson, 17.7 percent picked Kyle Orton/Forte and 8.1 percent tabbed Orton/Benson.
In a poll that asked which NFC North quarterback would throw the most TD passes this season, 44.2 percent of the 27,359 voters selected Grossman, 21.0 percent chose the Lions’ Jon Kitna, 18.4 percent picked Orton, 10.5 percent tabbed the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers and 5.9 percent chose the Vikings’ Tarvaris Jackson."
Has Chicago finally awakened from their ignorant delirium that switching the QB out every time a bump in the road comes along is one day going to just hand us a Peyton Manning or a Tom Brady?
Has Brett Favre's support of Grossman when he speaks to the media and tells them, "Hey, it took me five years to develop into the QB I needed to be..." finally hit home in Chicagoans' heads?
It seems to be that way.
Grossman's victories in the polls came at astounding numbers. Not only did he take the top spot for the starting QB in the RB/QB poll, but he took the number two spot as well. Fans think it's a solid bet that Grossman will start this season with either Forte or Benson in the backfield.
And it seems the fans feel that he's going to keep that starting spot. They voted him as the NFC North QB most likely to throw the most TDs this season.
These polls may seem small and meager to some, but to Grossman, that's nearly 20,000 fans that think he's the guy. This could be a major confidence booster for the QB who's had more than his fair share of criticism in Chicago.
And the worst part of it is that when you break it down, Grossman's far from the scapegoat Chicago has made him out to be.
He came back from two consecutive season ending injuries and improved his team, taking one of the worst offenses in the league (under Kyle Orton in 2005) and making it one of the best in 2006, en route to a Super Bowl berth. He is far from the draft bust everyone seems to think he is.
It's become a sad and pathetic fad to hate Grossman in Chicago. I've noticed that most of the "haters" have relatively little knowledge of Grossman and seem to be on the bandwagon for the heck of it.
So just to help Chicago fans to brush up on the QB situation as it stands coming from 2007:
•The notion that Grossman can't take a snap now looks to be more on the shoulders of center Olin Kreutz. Grossman had only one fumbled snap in 2007, while QBs Brian Griese had four and Kyle Orton had five in only three games. Haters need to get a new slogan besides, "He can't even take a snap right."
•Fans criticize Grossman for his turnovers, though Tom Brady had more fumbles over the past three seasons than he did.
Brett Favre, who will undoubtedly be a hall of famer, holds the all-time INT record. Kyle Orton holds the team-high INT record for current QBs on the roster with six in one game, which came when he played the Panthers in 2005.
Chicago needs to wake up and smell the roses. Grossman isn't the only QB in the world to turn the ball over.
•And we had zero, zip, zilch, and nada for an offensive line in 2006 and 2007. Jones helped the cause in '06 by adding a better than average running game, but Benson killed any respect teams had for Chicago's run game in '07 when he dropped to the bottom of the league in yards per carry.
Grossman's line was horrid, finishing second worst to only the Detroit Lions, giving up a sack every 10-15 pass attempts. Perhaps the new, younger, and stronger line can give Grossman enough time to be an effective passer.
Now's the time, Rex! From what it seems, Chicago believes in you. So does the team, and so do I.
And I guarantee you, if Rex Grossman gets the receiving corps and the offensive line he deserves, he will be a Pro Bowl QB in no time.
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4 months ago
Be careful giving Sexy Rexy a pass on throwing picks just because Brett Favre threw the most ever. He also played the most consecutive games as a QB by a MILE and was a starter for nearly two years. Rex has barely played 20 games and has already struggled to stay on the field whether by injury or poor play. Just because the fans support him doesn't mean he should be on the field.
Sticking with Favre, in 1999, the Packers went 8-8 and after Matt Hasslebeck had been tearing up pre-season games, some fans were actually calling for Brett to sit (This was just two seasons removed from three straight MVP seasons from #4)
Loved Rex coming out of school, drew comparisons to Brett Favre and yes Brett even had his back a few times. That doesn't mean jack when you consider Rex has not proven he can be a winner consistently in the NFL
4 months ago
Jimmy, this article is fantastic! This is professional material and the hard work you put into the article with lots of research and quotes goes a long way. Please continue to write because this is the stype of stuff that is big-time when it comes to sports journalism! Great job!
4 months ago
To be fair, Grossman has also played fewer games than Brady or Favre. And even when the Bears were winning, Grossman struggled with inconsistency.
And it's not exactly fair to compare Grossman to Kyle Orton, or really any of the other QBs in the NFC North. It's kind of a lesser of two evils situation.
The thing with Grossman is he's got all the tools, he just is so damn inconsistent. He'll make you scream with joy, he'll make you cry in anguish. He'll snatch victory from the jaws of defeat one day, then throw away another game the next.
4 months ago
Good article.
4 months ago
Who the fans think is going to start is a miss leading question, because I am sure most of them would rather have someone else there, but would rather have Grossman over Orton.
from 4 months ago
True, but at least people aren't going to start the season chanting for Orton like I assumed would happen. I think Grossman should start, but I figured it wasn't a common thought.
4 months ago
The poll reflects who they EXPECT to start, not who they PREFER to start. Also keep in mind that it was conducted on www.chicagobears.com, so the relative comparisons around the NFC north are a bit biased don't you think.
Tom Brady may have more fumbles, but has played in nearly every single game for the past three seasons. Grossman, however, sat all but one game in 05, and didn't even play half the season in 07.
Orton did not have 6 int vs the Panthers in 05. He actually had one. He did throw 5 against the Bengals the same year.
Quite a few NFL quarterbacks would appear pro bowl worthy w/ the right receiving corp and offensive line.
4 months ago
Grossman is a main cause of the Bears offensive misery. The sooner we figure out that he is bad, and so were his "replacements" the sooner we can fix the problem by drafting a franchise QB. Williams was a bad pick. No one will respect our OL while our QB is Rex. They will not be able to stop the pass rush, or create running space for our RB's - which aren't real good, either...
WE blew this draft by not getting franchise QB's and RB's, both of which we could have had, instead of trying to blame the OL for all our problems. Guess what? you now have a 1st round left tackle and you still have Rex - lottsa luck!
from 4 months ago
That's right, we still have Rex. Rex Grossman is what the Bears need...He will be the starter and he will show up this year with a huge chip on shoulder and prove why he belongs in the league as an elite starting quarterback. This is coming from a guy who resides in Indianapolis and bleeds Blue and Orange, sleeps Bears football to the end.
4 months ago
Orton was intercepted 5 times in that Panther's game, not six, and he had only 2 fumbles in his 3 games.
And your Tom Brady comparison is for children. Rex played in 1.5 games in 2005, 16 in 2006, and 8 in 2007. 3 of those games were only half games (In 2005 he came in the second half against Atl, in 2007 he came in for Griese in Oak, and left with an injury before th half against Wash. In those 24 full games, he fumbled 13 times.
Brady has played 48 games in the same 3 seasons and has 21 fumbles. Twice as many games but not twice as many fumbles.
I am very far from being a Orton fan, in fact I hope he never starts another game as a Bear, but please don't make up stats hoping that the rest of the fans never actually followed the Bears. What it does do is make those that like Rex look stupid because his fans make up or exagerate his stats to make him look better.
This is no better than an Orton fan deluding himself that because Orton is 12-6 as a Bear, this automatically means he will continue to have a winning record with no defense behind him.
from 4 months ago
Whoa there partner, nobody's making stats up. I merely confused the Panthers and Bengals (dear me...) and misread a stat. I'm sure 5 INT's looks MUCH better than 6... I'll humor you and admit my misprint. Forgive me.
But I've made up no stats. Kyle Orton holds the team high INT record for current QB's and had FOUR FUMBLED SNAPS (batched snaps, my friend, NOT FUMBLES). We're talking about the QB/center exchange oh, wise one. And regardless of how many games Brady played vs. Grossman, he had more in 2005 and more in 2006 (when they BOTH played 16 games), so calm down and think about getting YOUR facts straight.
Under the circumstances, Rex has performed better than Orton. There's no way around it. In 2005, Orton was horrid as a rookie, we both know that. He had the league's 2nd to worst QB rating for a rookie with 10+ wins, EVER. Rex came in after not playing for 15 weeks and his FIRST pass was the longest of the Bears' entire season, 11 yards longer than Orton had completed all year. And in 2007, Orton played weak pass D's at the end of a meaningless season.
I was merely pointing out Rex's support over Orton's support, which is not a made up stat either. Tell me, where am I making stats up at? And if you have no opinion either way on either QB, than what was the point of your post?
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