Grossman winningest Bears QB since Harbaugh
They were curious to learn the story of Grossman, whose wild ride this season has steadied itself in the postseason. Counting playoff games, Grossman is 19-7 as a starter going to back to his rookie season of 2003. That's more wins than Erik Kramer had in a Bears uniform (18), and you have to go back to Jim Harbaugh, who was 35-30 as a starter from 1987 to '93, to find a Bears quarterback who has won more games.
Now you know why reporters across the country have been seeking out locals for information about the sorry state of Bears quarterbacks and the clown car of hopefuls that preceded Grossman. Brace yourself for this: In the last four decades, only three other quarterbacks have won more games for the Bears -- Mike Tomczak, Jim McMahon and Bob Avellini.
''A lot was said when I was drafted about the struggles they've had at quarterback,'' Grossman said. ''I know Jim Miller played well for a while and Erik Kramer had a couple really good seasons, but they haven't had a consistent quarterback really for a long period of time -- since Sid Luckman, which is a long time ago.''
Yes, a long time ago, as in the leather-helmet era. One of the first things Grossman heard after he was drafted was how the backup quarterback is always a popular figure in Chicago. It's certainly not a phenomenon exclusive to the Bears, but it has held true recently.
''I would love to play more consistent so they know what to expect,'' Grossman said. ''I know that I can do that. In my first full season, I had about 12 games, including the playoffs, that I am real proud of and about five or six that I'm really not proud of. They were bad. I need to work on those six, but I'm happy where I'm at.''
Coach Lovie Smith was asked if he had spoken to Grossman about handling the questions that will come all week about the disparity between him and Peyton Manning.
''We had a chance to prepare ourselves for it on a week-to-week basis,'' Smith replied. ''I haven't talked to Rex about it. He's a professional. He knows that most of you have certain questions that you want to ask him, that most of you would like to let him know exactly just how bad he is and things like that, but he's not going to buy into it.''
VARSITY BLUES: Defensive end Adewale Ogunleye tiptoed toward making a grand statement when the subject turned to the inferiority of the NFC, which has won only three of the last 10 Super Bowls.
''This team's not going to let anybody put us in a box,'' Ogunleye said. ''This is the JV of the NFL -- I've heard that. Sunday, we're going to show we belong here.''
COMPARING COVERAGES: With Smith springing from a branch on the Tony Dungy coaching tree, there are some close similarities in what the Bears' and Colts' defenses try to do schematically. Both use the Tampa-2 as their base defense, but Bears quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson said the Colts use even more cover-2 than the Bears.
''We play more man coverage,'' Wilson said. ''Indianapolis, fortunately, doesn't do a ton of things. They do what they do well, so it shouldn't be anything where they will try to confuse us a bunch. So Rex should be real studied up on the things they like to do.''
BRAD BIGGS ON THE BEARS: