Rams game Rextremely important
This is gonzo time, with everything up for grabs.
That includes Super Bowl dreams and careers.
''I was pretty much here, for the most part,'' said Grossman, when asked what he has been doing since laying a 1.3 quarterback-rating egg Sunday.
''I've been working out, watching tapes. Trying to figure out what the problem is. Trying to work at it. Trying to get better.''
You'll understand, there is no debate over whether a problem exists.
It does.
With Pro Bowl defensive tackle Tommie Harris perhaps out for the season with a leg injury, the Bears abruptly realize what other teams have gone through.
The only significant loss the Bears have had all year was saftey Mike Brown, who was placed on injured reserve after the Arizona Cardinals game, while opponents have had starters absent since opening day or even the preseason.
Thus, the luxury of being able to use a quarterback who is simply along for the ride has ended.
''I'm so confused why I do some of the things I do,'' said Grossman, who looks like Mr. Hyde with Dr. Jekyll on a vacation cruise in the South Seas. ''It just doesn't make any sense to me.''
Nor anyone else.
Backup veteran Brian Griese is so sick of holding the clipboard that he might put himself in the game if Grossman keeps reeking like a Thanksgiving turkey gone bad.
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''This business is not about fair or unfair,'' Griese said in front of his locker Thursday afternoon. ''I've been on both sides of it. I can empathize with Rex. It's not great to be in this position, either.''
Yes, fans, here is the tension we've been waiting for.
The NFL is not about just winning and losing. It is about endurance, opportunity grabbed or squandered, injuries, luck and -- like pro golf -- getting or curing the yips.
Grossman's got the yips.
He says he has been analyzing too much. Trying to be so smart he has gotten dumb.
''It's a game. Go play,'' he said of his proposed solution to his slump. ''Don't overthink it. Relax.''
Maybe, he acknowledged, he should even go sandlot, draw plays in the dirt, run the ball upfield a few times, take some whacks, just get out there and be a kid in the neighbor's yard.
Grossman's long run of two yards this year and his net total of minus-17 yards basically means he is a bronze statue waiting for pigeons to do their thing.'You got to step up in the pocket, find a hole, create something,'' Grossman admitted of his own immobility. ''Run for a six-, seven-yard gain -- that's huge -- rather than throwing it away and having it be second-and-10 or third-and-long.''
No one disagrees.
Just do it.
But can he?
''It's just you and the goalposts,'' he said of his craft. And the pressure that has driven Rex into a bunker mentality?
''It's part of the professsion,'' Gould said. ''You just have to block it out, do your job. Rex is gonna be fine. Biggest thing, he is 10-2 right now.''
But as you look at Grossman's stats and those of his defensive teammates, it becomes clear that this symbiotic relationship is far too one-sided.
The Bears' defense has annihilated opposing quarterbacks, holding such stalwarts as Brett Favre, Jon Kitna, Matt Hasselbeck, Eli Manning, Chad Pennington, Matt Leinart and Tom Brady to a combined quarterback average of 54.6.
A horrendous number.
Grossman has had better numbers than his foes in seven of the 12 games so far, and in three others he has hung on for the joy ride.
But he seems to have no middle ground.
He has had quarterback ratings of 10.2, 36.8, 23.7 and, of course, the magical 1.3, to go with his stellar numbers.
It's as though Rex has a scaldingly hot spigot and an ice cold one, but no soothingly warm one.
''It seems easy,'' Grossman said of correcting his mistakes.
Then he shrugged at the mystery of it all.
''It sounds simple,'' confirmed offensive corrdinator Ron Turner. ''And it really is.''
But sometimes simple is harder to rope than a wild pony.
Rex has one last game with the lasso.
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