Give Rex much more than passing grade

Maybe we ought to try to understand why Rex Grossman has been a little testy of late. The guy has been all over the map as a quarterback, yes. Might even have moved the pin onto the wall a few times.

But the stubby dude is 15-3 as a starter this year, 20-8 lifetime, and yet all he ever hears from the ''experts'' is a royal bitch-fest.

Even the ex-jock ESPN analysts have no faith in him.

Apparently, coach Lovie Smith let his players know before the NFC Championship Game that 18 of 21 brilliant prognosticators had the Bears going down in flames.

From the Sun-Times, only Mike Mulligan and I picked the Bears to beat the Saints.

And the Saints already had lost six games this season.

And they were playing out of their dome, on dubious grass, in front of a hostile crowd, in bad weather.

Against the team with the best record in the NFC.

Lord, was this a reach?

Sometimes the endless analysis by a nation of couch general managers leads not to insight but to pure ignorance.

I mean, imagine if Smith followed the pendulum advice of every clown who said not long ago that Grossman had to be benched immediately, if not forever, in favor of Brian Griese and other such wisdom.

Adewale Ogunleye put it best in the days before the NFC championship, while pondering Saints-Bears matchups: ''It brings into perspective that football is a team game.''

Anybody remember that axiom?

No other sport has 22 starters; 24 if you count kickers and punters; over 30 if you count special-teams first-stringers.

No other sport gets so much input from offensive coaches, defensive coaches, film study, cooperation.

Take one moment in Sunday's game.

Ogunleye sacked Saints quarterback Drew Brees, caused a fumble, and recovered it. But the refs missed the fumble.

So Smith called for a review.

Reversal.

This was a huge turnaround -- Bears' ball at the Saints' 26 instead of the Saints being third-and-12, with Cedric Benson's game-icing TD just four plays away -- and it took input from Ogunleye, the coaches in the skybox, and Lovie himself to be successful.

Naturally, the Bears already are seven-point underdogs to the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLI.

And the reason is all Grossman.

Nobody remembers this is a team game.

Who are you gonna pick for your fantasy league numbers -- clod Rex or king Peyton Manning, the Hall of Famer waiting only for the sword on his shoulders?

Grossman has nothing -- absolutely nothing -- on Manning.

He's shorter, less experienced, less talented, less famous, has none of the commercials or crazy stats of P-Man.

Consider this random Manning line from 2003, against the Saints, on the road: 20-of-25 passing for 314 yards, six TDs and no interceptions.

Manning is no speedster, but the 6-5, 230-pound vet might be a blur compared to the 6-1, 217-pound sack of potatoes that is Grossman.

A scout tells me Grossman runs a 5.13 40.

Penguins backpedal faster.

But remember -- please -- this is a team game.

What did Grossman do Sunday?

He threw no interceptions. He was never sacked.

Pretty good offensive line, huh?

Nice game plan.

Also, maybe Grossman, when he is fully focused, has a damned good idea how to play to win.

Not put up pretty stats.

Just win.

I personally wondered about Grossman's sanity in the game when he tried to call back-to-back timeouts on a risky fourth-and-one near the end of the first quarter.

There had been a measurement, then a Bears' timeout, then Rex tried to call another timeout, starting to walk to the sideline.

The ref waved him off -- you can't call two in a row, dude -- and tight end Desmond Clark desperately pushed Rex back toward center.

Even Saints coach Sean Payton was confused, yelling for a penalty -- a penalty that doesn't exist.

Then with 46 seconds left in the half, Bears' ball at their own 34, Grossman handed off to Thomas Jones for a small gain and started to trot toward the locker room.

Except Lovie wanted to keep playing. So Grossman ran back and threw an anemic, no-huddle incompletion. He had looked to the sideline and waved his arms as if to say, what the hell do you want?

Then he took a knee to end the half.

But none of this clownishness makes any difference in the long run. Or rather, in the short run.

And the Super Bowl is but one game, with its own ups, downs, dynamics.

Grossman looked lousy most of Sunday, but when he needed badly to do something -- the Bears clinging to an 18-14 lead -- he went 4-for-4 with a passing TD.

There is a cleverness to Grossman, a shrewdness that often transcends his physical limitations.

You know those pesky Wonderlic intelligence tests that all NFL draftees must take?

A score between 23 and 2 typical for a top quarterback, and much higher than for other positions such as cornerback or linebacker.

It equates to an IQ nicely above 100.

Dan Marino supposedly scored a 15 on the Wonderlic.

Michael Vick had a 20.

Brett Favre scored 22.

Byron Leftwich had a 25.

Peyton freaking Manning, GTE Academic All-America, Tennessee cum laude graduate in just three years, walking Canton bust and lordly genius, got a 28.

But Rex Grossman, ol' lazy slug Rex, the Florida guy who can't do anything right, he happened to get a 29.

Well, well, well.

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