MIAMI – When Rex Grossman answers a question he doesn’t appreciate – he gets those quite often – there’s a half-smile, half-smirk that curls up his lips, and when he offers a response there’s a strong sense he’s holding something back.
And so, when Grossman for the first time as a Super Bowl quarterback was asked yesterday how a loss on Sunday in Super Bowl XLI would affect not himself, but Peyton Manning, Grossman was naturally a bit taken aback and certainly far from amused.
“I haven’t thought about how it would affect Peyton,” Grossman said flatly.
How appropriate. So much has been made about Manning’s quest to get here, what effect this game will have on his legacy and how history will ultimately treat him.
These are philosophical thoughts that never enter into any discussion of Grossman. Instead, the debate rages whether he’s the worst quarterback to ever make it into a Super Bowl. (Quick answer: He’s not. Think Stan Humphries, Neil O’Donnell, Tony Eason and David Woodley, Super Bowl participants and Super Bowl losers all).
What Colts-Bears might be is the Super Bowl with the greatest disparity at quarterback, as Grossman has the misfortune of sharing this week with a superstar such as Manning.
“Do I feel like I have to match Peyton Manning?” Grossman asked, repeating another question he clearly did not enjoy. “I feel like I have to do whatever the coaches are asking me to do.”
Naturally, this theme was anticipated by the Bears, a team that often finds itself in defend-Rex mode.
“He knows that most of you have certain questions that you want to ask him, that most of you would like to let him know exactly just how bad he is and things like that,” coach Lovie Smith said, “but he’s not going to buy into it. As far as comparing him to Peyton Manning, you can compare very few players with Peyton Manning, but Rex and Peyton are not the only two guys playing.”
Grossman has compiled a record of 19-7 as a starter for a franchise-best winning percentage of .731. He’s only 26 years old and completed his first injury-free season with the Bears at 15-3 heading into their showdown with the Colts at Dolphin Stadium. Yet he’s been booed by the home fans at Soldier Field, either vilified or ridiculed in the media as if he’s a defective finished product and the jury has already decided he’s guilty of impersonating a quarterback.
Of course, he’s not blameless when it comes to engendering the criticism that comes his way. When Grossman is good, he’s really good (seven games with a quarterback rating of over 100.0). When he’s bad, he can be dreadful (four games with a rating of 36.8 or lower). He can be a turnover machine (20 interceptions) and induced into woeful decisions and costly fumbles.
“I would love to play more consistent so they know what to expect,” Grossman said of the ire he often elicits from Chicago fans. “I’ve had about 12 games I’m real proud of, including the playoffs, and five or six games I’m really not proud of, they were bad. I still feel like I had a good season.”
Grossman in the postseason has been, well, Grossman, interspersing moments or ineptitude with some passing that borders on special. Case in point: He was 3 of 12 for 37 yards in the first half of the NFC Championship Game against the Saints but 8 of 14 for 107 yards in a coolly efficient second half.
As he sat, wearing a blue Bears hat backwards on his head, unshaven and boyish-looking, Grossman wringed his hands as he faced a large gathering that will be dwarfed by the throngs sure to encircle Manning for today’s Media Day. Grossman called Manning “a great player” and “the king of stats” and did not seem overly uncomfortable in the spotlight. That glare is sure to burn even brighter in the days to come, culminating in what can be a suffocating or illuminating glow on Super Bowl Sunday.