Grossman left to wonder 'What if?'

Bears quarterback admits things just didn't go as planned

This wasn't the way Rex Grossman envisioned his season ending. The Bears quarterback was supposed to be the hero of Super Bowl XLI, not a goat.

Grossman sparred with the media during the week and planned on having the final say come game day.

''Super Bowl week was great,'' Grossman said. ''I was just waiting for this moment to make those plays and win the Super Bowl. That didn't happen. When I look back on this season, it's going to be a great season with a lot of memories. In the end, it will be disappointing because we didn't finish strong.''

The Bears didn't finish at all on offense. They were spotted a seven-point lead by special teams and got the ball back off an interception. The lone highlight on offense was Thomas Jones' performance, including an early 52-yard run that set up a four-yard touchdown pass from Grossman to Muhsin Muhammad. That gave the Bears an eight-point lead in the first quarter, but they never got anything going on offense.

They ran only 19 plays in the first half and 48 for the game. The Colts enjoyed nearly double the time of possession.

''All week long we talked about staying in phase and getting some production out of first and second down,'' Grossman said. ''We did that, but we couldn't convert third-and-medium and third-and-short. We never found our rhythm. It wasn't a typical game for us.''

Offensive coordinator Ron Turner said he thought Grossman was ''focused and very calm and not at all wide-eyed about the situation.'' But Turner said the sequence that perfectly captured the night for the offense came in the second half, when the Bears got one first down and a nine-yard run by Jones, only to have Grossman slip and fall for an 11-yard loss on second down and lose the ball and recover his fumble for an 11-yard loss on the next play.

''To me that summed it up,'' Turner said. ''Second-and-one, we talked about a certain thing we wanted to go to and the worst-case scenario is third-and-one, but we lost 11 yards. We had opportunities to finish drives, but we didn't do it.''

Grossman threw two interceptions, both in the fourth quarter. He went downfield to Muhammad on the first one, but cornerback Kelvin Hayden made his first career interception and returned it 56-yards for the game-sealing touchdown.

Turner said Grossman had the right pre-snap read with Hayden at the line in press coverage of Muhammad, but the cornerback opened his hips and retreated downfield in a hurry, turning to face the ball, which he made an easy play on.

''It was one of those throws where you're giving us a chance to go up and make a play,'' Grossman said. ''At the very least you expect it to be incomplete, but [Muhammad] was expecting it a little further down the field, and the corner got his eyes up and saw the ball. As soon as I let it go, I was expecting Moose to get his eyes around and see the ball and go up and get it. When I saw him continue down the field, I thought he would get his eyes around and knock it down, but it didn't happen.''

The second interception came after Grossman underthrew Bernard Berrian on a deep route.

''That is a play we would love to have back,'' Grossman said. ''He was perfect down the field about 10 yards wide. It was a play you look at, and it could have helped us win the game.''

mmulligan@suntimes.com