'Ignorant' remark trails Rex

Scrutiny may worsen after untimely jab at critical media

MIAMI -- As controversies go, maybe what Rex Grossman said Thursday doesn't qualify. Using ''ignorant'' in connection with the media may not even be newsworthy.

But at the very least, it was a look into how Grossman views his treatment by a press corps that had its last crack at the Bears quarterback until after the Super Bowl on Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts.

''To me, you're just trying to sell papers,'' Grossman said. ''It doesn't matter.

''It's frustrating when some of you guys don't put too much thought into it and you're just trying to go off the fans' reaction or you don't know much about what we're doing on offense. Just realizing how ignorant some of you guys are -- and I don't mean that necessarily in a bad way. I mean, like just understanding that you may not be correct and accepting that fact and not paying attention to it much.''

It was an interesting choice of words for someone who has claimed to have been taken out of context earlier this season.

''He's right, there are a lot of people in the media who give very little thought to their product, whichever medium it is,'' WMVP-AM host Dan McNeil said. ''But he put very little thought into trying to call his second [consecutive] timeout against Seattle a few weeks ago.''

Perhaps what was surprising about Grossman's words is that they came on the last day of player availability with the media after two weeks of vanilla stories, many of the feel-good variety involving coaches Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy.

''It's understandable because he's been taking a beating all season,'' WSCR-AM (670) host Mike North said. ''But why say it now when everybody is backing him? And I didn't know the subtleties of the offense called for a 1.3 passer rating.''

Bears wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad, like all of his teammates, defended Grossman.

''Rex expected the criticism when he did not play well,'' Muhammad said. ''He knew it was coming. All it did was fuel his fire to want to play better.

''The thing that impressed me was that he never backed down and he never ran from it. He owned up to his mistakes and moved on.''

Perhaps Grossman merely was stating that many in the media are ignorant of the Bears' offense. Few would argue. Or he was saying the media are ignorant in general. Even fewer would argue. One inference could be that the criticism of Grossman was unfair because, since the media doesn't understand the Bears' offense, the blame for interceptions should have been placed on receivers for not running correct routes.

''It's frustrating ... just that chip on your shoulder when people are trying to doubt you or it minimizes your abilities,'' Grossman said. ''I'm only going to get better. This is my first full season, and I'm in the Super Bowl. I've had some of the best games of my life this year and some of the worst games of my life this year.

''I know a lot of people can say, 'Hey, take some of my bad games out, and I had a great year, too.' In my situation, it's even more exaggerated. If you take the fact that in five games, I had 16 of my [21] interceptions and one touchdown. The other 13 games, [24] touchdowns and [five] picks.''

Perhaps the media are ignorant about the Bears' offense, but it was Smith who gave backup Brian Griese half the practice reps with the first unit before the Dec. 11 game in St. Louis. It was understood that if Grossman stumbled in the first half of that game, Griese would replace him. But Grossman turned in a solid performance that night.

Smith has bristled each day when the subject of Grossman criticism has resurfaced, and he was asked about it again Thursday before Grossman faced the media.

''It is what it is,'' Smith said. ''Next question.''

The next questions will be today, when Smith will be the only member of the Bears to conduct a news conference. And the question will be whether he expects the latest Grossman controversy to affect the quarterback in the sport's biggest game.

rmodrowski@suntimes.com