Hit By a Pitch

There is one thing that should give comfort to Bears fans in this time of misery: Lovie Smith knows what he’s doing.

Last year, Rex Grossman showed that he can be a brilliant quarterback. He also showed that he can really, really suck. There was enough of the good to keep him around through the end of last season, a decision that was, in my opinion, perfectly reasonable.

This year, Bad Rex — no, Rex the Terrible — has taken over, maybe for good. I can’t say that it’s all his fault — last night he threw at least one spot-on pass that should’ve been caught, and I suspect that there’s something weird going on with Rex and Mushin Muhammad, who is unhappy with how little he’s seeing the ball.

For the first time, the cracks in the foundation of the Bears love of Grossman are glaringly obvious to the world. Players are saying the “right” things, but their words reveal that they’re no longer all aboard the Rex love train. They’re still saying that Rex is “our guy,” but it’s clear they no longer believe it.

Lovie Smith has been handling the Grossman situation the best way anybody could. He has been 100% supportive of Rex, and this is the right thing to do with a struggling quarterback who has the potential to be awesome. Anything less would begin to chip away at Grossman’s confidence, which likely would negatively affect his performance.

Look at what happened with Mike Shanahan and Jake Plummer last year. Plummer was a reasonably effective quarterback, but as soon as the Broncos drafted Jay Cutler, it was clear that Plummer’s days were numbered. Shanahan was not 100% supportive of his quarterback and, as a result, Plummer’s confidence was shaken and the team suffered. I still think that if Plummer kept the starting QB job through the end of the season (if Shanahan had treated Plummer the way Lovie Smith treats Grossman), the Broncos would’ve made it to the playoffs.

Because Lovie Smith knows that a quarterback’s confidence and mental state are important and easy to screw up, he realizes that the tiniest speck of doubt in Rex Grossman’s head could become an avalanche that completely destroys the potential for brilliance. That’s why he’s been all Rex, all the time — at least to the world and, I suspect, to the team.

However, I’m sure that in his head, Lovie is not all Rex, all the time. I’m sure he’s been wondering for a while now when the point will come that he’s ready to move on to a new quarterback. Unfortunately, the Bears don’t have someone like Jay Cutler, a young kid with an amazing arm who may be the second coming of John Elway. The Bears have Brian Griese and Kyle Orton, options that are serviceable but not stellar. Like John Madden said last night, Griese is a band-aid, not a permanent solution. So making the switch from your starting QB, who has shown some talent and is (was?) loved by his teammates to a temporary fix to stop the bleeding can’t be an easy thing to do.

That said, I think it’s going to happen very soon — maybe this week. When it does, it will be sudden and certain and there won’t be weeks of discussion and debate — one day, Brian Griese will be the starting QB, period. That’s the only way to do it — anything drawn out will make things even worse for a team that’s already struggling. After the switch is made, there will be no going back — the love affair of Rex Grossman and the Bears will be over for good.

Because I think that any rumblings of change will destroy whatever shred of confidence Grossman has left, throwing Griese into the game last night would not have been the right thing to do. It might have been fun for the fans to see if he sucked less than Rex, but making a monumental change shouldn’t happen on the spur of the moment like that. As frustrated as Bears fans are by the Rex Grossman fiasco and that terrible spanking by the likes of T.O. and pals, we should be happy that any change will be well-considered and thoughtful. It sucks today, but it will be better tomorrow.

In terms of changes that aren’t such a big deal, the Bears should do two things next week. First, they should limit Devin Hester to return duty, because something was wrong with him last night and I wonder if he’s maybe a little overwhelmed. Second, they should give Garrett Wolfe some playing time. We’ve seen Adrian Peterson and Cedric Benson give up fumbles and the Bears running game isn’t anything special. Let’s see what the little guy can do right now.