On the Bears and the Fox Crew

Last week, I was critical of Darryl Johnston for his criticism of Michael Vick on a particular play. This week, I'm shifting the focus to his partner, play-by-play man Dick Stockton. After a short completion to the FB by Chicago QB Rex Grossman, Stockton announced something preposterous: "you can see that the Chicago Bears, who have been hanging in there in a close game taking advantage of these defensive plays, now getting some rhythm going."

Stockton didn't realize that the ballcarrier stepped out-of-bounds short of the first down. But, even if he had made it as far as Stockton did, the idea that Grossman completing his 4th pass out of 13 attempts signifies anything is ridiculous. It was a short, easy throw and with less than 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, the Bears didn't have 100 yards on offense yet.

Then, Tony Siragusa (the on-field part of the trio) chimed in: "Well, I'm really surprised they're leaving Rex Grossman in the pocket, even throwing these short passes. He did so much better in the first quarter getting on the edge on the dashes and out of the pocket where he can see more and he has better passing lanes down the field, I'm really surprised they haven't gone to that in the 2nd half." Thanks, Tony.

Maybe I missed something. But, I think Grossman is 4-14 for 30 yards with 3 INT's. The reason Chicago is up 21-6 is because the defense and special teams have been excellent. Devin Hester returned a punt for a TD and Ricking Manning Jr. returned an INT for a TD. They've allowed just 6 points in spite of 5 Chicago TO's and have intercepted Brad Johnson 4 times.

So, I have two questions. How much success did Grossman really have getting outside in the 1st quarter? Maybe he was doing better than when he was in the pocket, but his rating for the game is 0.0. And, how much rhythm did they have offensively? Sure, Cedric Benson took one 24 yards on 4th and 1 to increase the lead to 21-6, but the Bears have a grand total of six first downs through 3 quarters. After another defensive stop and a good punt return by Devin Hester to the Vikings' 35, the Bears moved the ball just 2 yards and are punting it back to Minnesota. The defense and special teams are playing well, as they've done most of the season. The offense is still in the toilet, as it has been much of the time recently.

On that note, why is there so much resistance to removing Rex Grossman. Why can't you bench him, let him think about things, and bring him back the next week? Why just leave him out there? And, if he continues to play this badly, why not replace him? As I noted in my latest power rankings, the Bears usually struggle when Grossman plays badly. It just happens that the Bears D has been overwhelming today. In fact, they just stopped Faison in the end zone for a safety. I don't understand why you would take the chance of having Grossman throw away games with poor decision-making and bad INT's. Why not use the 2000 Ravens mold and play to your strengths, defense and special teams. If Grossman performs like this in the playoffs, the Chicago Bears' season is going to end prematurely.