Off the bus running should no longer be Bears’ mantra
November 18th, 2009 | by BearsSTH |A couple days, the Chicago Tribune published an article about Rex Grossman’s father, Dan Grossman and his opinion on why the Bears have had so little success with finding the right quarterback.
He thinks that it’s an organization not understanding what a quarterback needs. He goes on to say that coaches are given a clear, strong message:
“I’m not even going to rip the coaches. It’s not even the coaches. The coaches are given a clear, strong message: ‘We’re not building an offensive passing team; we’re building an offensive running team.’
As the article continues, Grossman points out that the NFL is a passing league for the past 20 years and all the best teams have prolific passing attacks. He also says:
“And for a team to be effective at passing, in my opinion, you have to build your offense around your quarterback. You have to commit to the quarterback: ‘You’re our guy.’
The Bears have been steadfast in their tradition of building their team around a running back and defense. Could there be an organizational disconnect with what it takes to build around the right quarterback? It could be, but the Bears haven’t ever picked the right quarterback.
Let’s look at a list of Bears’ starting quarterbacks in the past 20 years (as we are often reminded of):
1989: Mike Tomczak, Jim Harbaugh
1990: Harbaugh, Tomczak
1991: Harbaugh
1992: Harbaugh, Peter Tom Willis, Will Furrer
1993: Harbaugh, Willis
1994: Erik Kramer, Steve Walsh
1995: Kramer
1996: Kramer, Dave Kreig
1997: Kramer, Rick Mirer
1998: Kramer, Steve Stenstrom, Moses Moreno
1999: Shane Matthews, Cade McNown, Jim Miller
2000: McNown, Matthews, Miller
2001: Miller, Matthews
2002: Miller, Chris Chandler, Henry Burris
2003: Kordell Stewart, Chandler, Rex Grossman
2004: Grossman, Jonathan Quinn, Craig Krenzel, Chad Hutchinson
2005: Kyle Orton, Grossman
2006: Grossman
2007: Grossman, Brian Griese, Orton
2008: Orton, Grossman
I was a Rex Grossman fan and thought that he was “The One”. I still think he has a chance to be successful. The constant criticism and booing at the games, I’m sure got to him – it would get to us too. Grossman threw for 23 TD’s and 20 INT’s in the 2006. Cutler has 19 INT’s today and we still have seven games to go. Cutler hasn’t been as heavily criticized as Grossman, although we are reminded of him when Cutler goes on an interception splurge.
Related story: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/chi-17-mitchell-nov17,0,1193797.column
Tags: Jay Cutler, Rex Grossman
By TJ on Dec 1, 2009
I’ll give you that. I liked Rex Grossman and still have my #8 jersey. He through a great long ball, took the team to the Super Bowl and, quite frankly, didn’t make any worse a decision that Jay Culter has this year. People often said that the Bears went 13-3 despite Rex Grossman, but I think that one could equally say that Rex Grossman went 13-3 despite having to play quarterback for the Bears.