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omac
11-22-2007, 01:50 PM
I saw these articles posted by dbears54 on the chicagobears.com forums; credit to him.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/printedition/cs-haugh-onbears22nov22,1,7373759.story?coll=cs-sports-print


A couple of Hoosier hotshots
Like Grossman, Cutler has faced many critics, writes David Haugh

David Haugh

November 22, 2007

Turns out Bears coach Lovie Smith really did want to keep his starting quarterback against the Broncos a mystery. He didn't even tell Rex Grossman.

"He never really said anything, I just kind of assumed I would be starting," Grossman said Wednesday. "I went and talked to [offensive coordinator Ron] Turner and got the game plan as if I was starting and that's how I found out."

Nice to see communication on the Bears remains as spotty as the running game.

But more than anything, Smith's unspoken confirmation that Grossman will start Sunday opposite another former Indiana schoolboy star, Jay Cutler, indicated how quickly the Bears organization has reconsidered abandoning their first-round quarterback.

Brian Griese's left shoulder has healed well enough that Smith projected he will be the No. 2 quarterback again, if healthy.

But the suggestion of starting anybody but Grossman on Sunday seemed to strike Smith as odd as eating anything but turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.

"I talked to him a little bit but, yes, it's safe to say Rex is starting," Smith said.

Until the Bears mathematically have no shot at making the playoffs and have to take a look at Kyle Orton for 2008, going with Grossman makes the most sense.

The shallow pool of potential available quarterbacks next off-season even gives the Bears enough reason to keep the door open to re-signing Grossman if he continues his improved ways.

In the six quarters since returning from a forced five-game vacation, Grossman has displayed more command in completing 31 of 51 passes for 408 yards and one touchdown without an interception.

"Any time you're not playing and something's taken away from you, you appreciate it that much more," Grossman said. "I want to maintain a level of performance that people can expect and that's my No. 1 goal in my career right now. This week is another week to go out and play at a high level and stay at a version of that for the rest of my career."

The same goals could have come out of the mouth of Cutler, Sunday's counterpart facing similar expectations in Denver that Grossman has encountered in Chicago.

So far every day of Cutler's brief NFL career has not been a holiday for the native of Santa Claus, Ind., who has lost more pro starts (eight) than he has won (seven). But when Cutler plays as well as he did Monday night against the Titans in posting a 137.0 passer rating, it puts Broncos fans in a jolly mood.

"I really believe he'd play the game if he was playing for free, that's the kind of work ethic he has," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said of his franchise quarterback. "He understands that every time he plays a game, the won-loss record goes under his name."

Cutler got the "L" the last time he started opposite Grossman, when both were NFL-bound quarterbacks leading SEC teams. Grossman was a Florida junior and Cutler a Vanderbilt freshman on Nov. 9, 2002, when the Gators hung on for a 21-17 road victory.

"We had a lot of almosts that year," said Hunter Hillenmeyer, a Vanderbilt linebacker on that team. "Cutler beat out a good player to play his freshman season. He's an aggressive guy who will try to get the ball into tight spots. He's really a great player."

Both quarterbacks scored on 1-yard runs in that '02 matchup and Grossman completed 17 of 32 passes for 170 yards while Cutler was 10 of 26 for 94 yards with two interceptions. But he rushed for 81 yards on 16 carries. Not that Grossman remembered the meeting.

"I don't," he said. "I haven't [met him]."

Turner has made Cutler's acquaintance, though it's not an encounter the Bears necessarily want the Broncos quarterback to dwell on this week. It might provide an emotional oomph for the small-town kid who already has enough motivation having grown up a Bears fan in southern Indiana idolizing Jim Harbaugh.

Jack Cutler, Jay's father, was quoted as recently as before the 2006 NFL draft as calling Turner "dirty," because the family believed the former Illinois head coach withdrew a scholarship offer to his son in December 2001. That decision forced Cutler, who had turned down Purdue, Maryland and others because of his commitment to the Illini, to scramble down a road that eventually led to Vanderbilt.

Asked Wednesday about that episode, Turner had a laugh at his own expense recalling a different version.

"I don't know why, but for some reason we weren't too involved [recruiting Cutler] -- I guess that's why I'm here," Turner said. "It's one of those mistakes you make. I never offered him. We never pulled anything, no. It never got that far."

Regardless of the past, Turner calls Cutler "a great player," the prevailing thought in Denver after Monday night's masterpiece. Broncos safety John Lynch, one of two veteran teammates who urged Cutler to be more vocal, sees progress that goes beyond Cutler's 65.8 percent completion rate or 2,038 yards passing.

"He's not trying to be anything but who he is," Lynch said. "I think he has realized it's his time to take over this team."

In Chicago, they have resumed saying the same thing about another former Hoosier hotshot. Meet the new potential franchise quarterback, Bears' opponents, same as the old potential franchise quarterback.

"I think the scouting report [on Grossman] is he's a very talented football player who can get very hot if you allow him to," Lynch said. "He throws the deep ball extremely well and that was his best game of the year last week. He's hot right now and we have to be ready for a hot quarterback."

The Broncos aren't the only ones.

Hoosier franchise QB?

Indiana schoolboy star QBs Rex Grossman (Bloomington South) and Jay Cutler (Heritage Hills) were first-round draft picks expected to be the long-term answer at the position. In Denver, they believe Cutler has turned the corner. In Chicago, they thought the same thing about Grossman after his 15th NFL start. Here's a look at both quarterback's statistics at that point in their respective careers.

REX JAY GROSSMAN CUTLER 11-4 RECORD 7-8 253 COMPLETIONS 258 455 ATTEMPTS 406 55.6 COMP. % 63.5 3,152 YARDS 3,083 18-16 TD-INT 20-14


-- David Haugh

omac
11-22-2007, 01:54 PM
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/bears/662697,CST-SPT-bear22.article


An Indiana Advance Prep Bowl
Broncos quarterback Cutler, Grossman won state titles, faced each other in college

November 22, 2007
BY BRAD BIGGS bbiggs@suntimes.com

If the Denver Broncos have as much trouble replacing John Elway as the Bears have had finding the next Sid Luckman, it will be some kind of drought in the Rockies.

The Broncos' quest to discover a suitable replacement for Elway, who led them to five Super Bowls, has reached its third candidate in Jay Cutler, and it has more to do with Chicago than coach Mike Shanahan's Franklin Park roots. The Bears' Brian Griese, who will back up Rex Grossman once his left shoulder is healed, was the first to follow Elway in Denver and got four seasons as the starter before he was dispatched.

Shanahan tabbed Jake Plummer next, but only after Plummer made a free-agent visit to the Bears in 2003 before deciding the Broncos were the best fit for him. He lasted three full seasons and into 2006 before the reins were turned over to Cutler, a first-round draft pick that year from Vanderbilt.

That sets up more than just a battle for the Bears' playoff life Sunday at Soldier Field (3:15 p.m., Ch. 2, 780-AM). It's a showdown between schoolboy giants from Indiana who play the wrong sport. Grossman prepped at Bloomington South; Cutler -- from Santa Claus, Ind. -- led Heritage Hills to a state title in 2001, three years after Grossman won one. In the basketball-crazed state, Cutler also was an all-state selection on the hardwood.

''There's not a lot going on in Indiana,'' Grossman said. ''So high school sports are a big deal. There were 30,000 people at my state- championship game. That's respectable in the RCA Dome. I didn't notice that much difference, but I didn't play basketball, so maybe I don't have a reference.''

They've faced each other once before, with Grossman's Florida Gators topping Cutler and the Commodores 21-17 in 2002.

Shanahan has seen plenty of Grossman. When Shanahan pondered leaving the NFL in 2002 to replace Steve Spurrier at Florida -- where he had been offensive coordinator from 1980 to '83 -- Grossman said he'd love to stay and play for him.

''I had a chance to watch him at Florida quite a bit and had a chance to be around him,'' Shanahan said. ''Really like him both as a quarterback and as a person.''

They're really starting to like Cutler in Denver. His numbers through his first 15 games are superior to Elway's in the same stretch. Cutler has thrown for nearly 1,000 more yards and completed 15 percent more of his passes. He has been particularly solid the last five weeks, and he has both the ability to throw out of the bootleg and the arm strength to fit Shanahan's system perfectly.

''He understands every time he plays, the won/lost record goes on his name,'' Shanahan said. ''And he does everything he can during the offseason and the season to be as good as he can be.

''Then you go through the game experiences, and there is always some highs and lows, but he understands that, and he's doing a great job working through it.''

As Grossman said this week, if wins and losses were all it was based on, he'd already have a rich contract extension. He's 20-11 as a starter, including postseason, and now has six games to show the Bears he can be a steady performer.

''He's had a rough go at it,'' said Cutler, who grew up a Bears fan. ''It's tough. He went to the Super Bowl, and they're still all over him. It's a tough business. Quarterback is a tough position. Even when your team is winning, you can still get criticized. Good defense, special teams helped them win a lot of games last year, and Rex was kind of up-and-down. I feel for him.

''Obviously, he's getting another shot. I wish him well.''

Some made a big deal about Bears coach Lovie Smith not naming Grossman the starter Monday. Did he really have to? Since replacing Griese in the second quarter at Oakland two weeks ago, Grossman has completed 60.8 percent of his passes and has a 92.6 rating. More important, the Bears have scored 37 points in the last six quarters.

''[Smith] never really said anything,'' Grossman said. ''I just kind of assumed that I was going to be starting, and I went and talked to coach [Ron] Turner and just got the game plan as if I was starting. That's how I found out.''

The Bears still have a final hope that Grossman, 27, will meet their expectations. The Broncos are peeling back the layers on Cutler and liking him more as they go along.

Until Cutler delivers a Super Bowl, he's never going to be Elway. Unless Grossman can stay on the job for a few more seasons, the Bears' records will still belong to Luckman.

''He's doing everything a little bit better,'' Smith said of Grossman. ''I guess you can say it helps to sit sometimes and analyze the game from afar. A lot of times when you get a second chance, you automatically play a little bit better. I don't know all the reasons why.''

SR
11-22-2007, 02:01 PM
Good articles. Did Griese really start for four years for the Broncos? I don't remember it being that long.

omac
11-22-2007, 02:14 PM
Good articles. Did Griese really start for four years for the Broncos? I don't remember it being that long.

If this is the start of the rennaisance, those were the dark ages. j/k. :D

SR
11-22-2007, 02:32 PM
All I really remember from Griese was the first year when he threw like 19 TDs and only 4 picks (or something like that), then the next year he tanked, and he never showed any emotion. Aside from that, I don't remember squat about him.


And FWIW, these articles suck for the simple fact that Wrecks Grossman sucks. ;)

Skywalker
11-22-2007, 02:48 PM
All I really remember from Griese was the first year when he threw like 19 TDs and only 4 picks (or something like that), then the next year he tanked, and he never showed any emotion. Aside from that, I don't remember squat about him.

All I remember is the DUI :laugh: