Why Bears Fans Shouldn't Hate Rex Grossman

“When the legend becomes fact...print the legend.”

It took me more than a year to figure out why Bears fans hate Rex Grossman so much.

After all, Grossman's not a franchise cancer à la Cade McNown—his teammates love him, at least publicly.

And it's not like he doesn't care or doesn't try—Rex has battled through a season-ending knee injury and a preseason ankle injury which sidelined him until Week 15, and has endured three different offensive coordinators in his first three years with the Bears.

The QB has kept his head up through all his struggles—and apart from calling the media “ignorant” during Super Bowl week, has been a genuinely stand-up guy.

So what’s the problem?

I think I've finally put my finger on it—and it has everything to do with believing legend over fact.

After the Bears' loss to the Minnesota Vikings earlier in the season, I overheard a coworker size up the team's plight as follows:

"Rex Grossman sucks. We’ll never win with him."

There were two flaws in that logic.

First, Brian Griese had taken over the QB job by the point. Second, the Bears made it to the Super Bowl last year behind Grossman—doesn’t that constitute a winning season?

Since then, I've started to notice other fallacies propagated by Grossman-bashers. To wit:

“Rex had nothing to do with the Super Bowl run—it was the amazing defense that carried us.”

Again, myth has supplanted fact. Yes the 2006 Bears defense was nasty—for the first half of the season. Injuries to both Mike Brown and Tommie Harris turned the ferocious Bears into docile little cubs.

“Rex Grossman cost us a Super Bowl win.”

Did Rex have a bad game?

His two late interceptions no doubt sealed the deal—but did anyone notice that the Bears "stellar" defense gave up over 300 yards on the ground and over seven yards per carry?

Did the Bears make any critical third-down stops against the Colts?

Yeah, I didn’t see that either.

Is Rex Grossman a great quarterback? Not yet. Could he become one? Perhaps.

Is he the best quarterback I’ve seen the Bears put under center in years—if not ever?

Absolutely.

The team finally got a cocky QB with a desire to take chances and air it out—and the fans couldn’t wait to throw in Brian "I-Love-the-Check-Down" Griese.

The Chicago faithful essentially called for a return to the John Schoop Era...and John Schoop wasn’t just bad for the Bears—he was bad for America!

So give Rex a break. This is still technically only his second season as a starting quarterback, and his numbers are on par with what Brett Favre and many other great QBs put up in their second seasons.

Of course, things like that only matter to people who go in for facts—not for legends.