Bears' super scenario fading with Rex

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- I have no interest in developing a young quarterback, or nursing his wounded inner child, over the larger priority of winning a championship. The question now becomes whether the Bears can keep suffering the mistakes of Rex Grossman and still win their first Super Bowl in 21 years. They have the defense to win it, the attitude to win it, the collective talent to win it and, certainly, the vehicle to win it via the spongy NFC.

But do they have the passer to win it?

If Sunday was Grossman's litmus test, the answer is an emphatic, time-to-panic no. If this was the game when Good Rex would prove he's a big-game performer, he instead morphed into his evil twin and let Ragged Rex sabotage a victory over a potential Super Bowl foe. Let Lovie Smith and his teammates make excuses for his three interceptions and fumble -- citing big plays by ball thief Asante Samuel and the banged-up New England secondary, a ''shorted snap'' by All-Pro center Olin Kreutz, a gust of wind from the north, a burst of wicked karma from the plotting mind of hooded sorcerer Bill Belichick.

Fact is, Grossman was given numerous chances to carve out some needed credibility and failed again, a setback made more painful by Tom Brady's calm, smooth-jazz, watch-me-fake-Brian-Urlacher-out-of-his-Red-Zone-deodorant drive in the fourth quarter. What Brady did so routinely, even as the Bears defense won his praise and forced two interceptions, was what Grossman longs to do in this league but hasn't yet. If he began the season white-hot against suspect competition, he has been wildly unpredictable -- and often simply horrendous -- in his last six games, starting with the Arizona debacle in mid-October. Other than a recovery outing against a weak San Francisco defense and a sharp second half against the depleted New York Giants, Rex has been one of the NFL's worst quarterbacks. Harsh? His passer rating against the Patriots was 23.7, eerily similar to his passer rating in fourth quarters this season -- second-worst in the league behind Oakland novice Andrew Walter. Most troubling are his performances against the best defensive teams, New England and Miami, because those are the types of quality schemes he'll face in the playoffs.

There is no polite way to put this: Unless he is visited by the spirit of Joe Montana and miraculously improves his game in December, the Bears aren't winning a Super Bowl with Grossman. He is still a work in progress when the defense is the finished product. He has January heartbreaker written all over him, and while I'm hardly giving up on a kid with a live arm and an impressive will to prove us wrong, the timing seems askew. It's one thing if the Bears were just a decent team and Grossman's development was part of the growth curve. But this is a team that came to Gillette Stadium, against a Hall of Fame coach and state-of-the-art quarterback, and should have won. When the Bears haven't won a playoff game in a dozen years and have mastered the nausea of one-and-doneitis, you just don't want to see them go down with Wrecks Grossman, as a New York tabloid put it.

Not that Smith has the cojones to make the change to safety blanket Brian Griese. Before anyone even could ask about a quarterback change after the 17-13 loss, Lovie reaffirmed Grossman's status.

''We didn't complete the job tonight, but Rex is our quarterback. I'll say it right now: Rex is our quarterback,'' he said. ''We'll make necessary corrections, which we've done in the past. We're 9-2 with Rex leading our football team. He had a couple of bad passes tonight. I made a lot of bad calls -- we made a lot of bad calls, you could go across the board. We had an opportunity to still win the game; we're not going to put it on one guy.''

Ah, but the quarterback is more than ''one guy,'' as Brady has proved through the years. The operative word is clutch, I believe. Midway through the final quarter, he led the Patriots on the winning, 73-yard touchdown drive and accented it with a play to remember: of all things, an 11-yard, up-the-gut scramble on thid-and-nine in which he head-faked left, made Urlacher bite and veered right for the game's most critical first down.

''An uncoordinated stutter step is probably what it looked like,'' said Brady, much too humble. ''At least I can tell my kids one day that I shook Brian Urlacher. They probably won't believe me.''

Burdened to answer Brady's deeds, Grossman fell short, but he would have hushed the doubters had he taken advantage of a Brady-like opportunity with 1:52 left. The call wasn't the smartest, letting him go deep on first down after Samuel had picked him off twice. Naturally, there was the cornerback again, positioning himself against Rashied Davis and snaring the ball that iced the loss.

''I had a good look. The guy made a great play,'' Grossman said.

Like most interceptions, the receiver usually deserves part of the blame. But the error is magnified when juxtaposed against Brady, who finds a way to be successful under pressure like few athletes in history. Same goes for the botched snap in the second quarter, which led to a long Patriots TD drive. Kreutz tried to take the blame, saying, ''I fumbled it. I shorted the snap. Grossman is going to try to take the blame, but blame me.'' Maybe, but Rex did have the ball in his hands. And he dropped it.

''Who knows? It was a center-quarterback exchange fumble,'' Grossman said.

Bill Parcells shifted to Tony Romo in Dallas and saved a season. Mike Shanahan is shifting to Jay Cutler in Denver and trying to save a season. The Grossman situation is different in that the Bears know they're going to the playoffs. But what will they do when they get there?

It's all up to Rex. And right now, that's a scary thought.

Jay Mariotti is a regular on ''Around the Horn'' at 4 p.m. on ESPN. Send e-mail to inbox@suntimes.com with name, hometown and daytime phone number (letters run Sunday).