He Said He Loved the Unknown

So we are officially in Day Two of the Brian Griese era, and, for the second post in a row, the main reason I'm writing this is that I want to direct you to Laurence Holmes's Daily Bears Blog. The last two posts have included the types of humanizing insights you don't normally get from sports writers--at least none that I've been able to find that cover the Bears.

But it is also a weird feeling, now, that I have no idea what to expect out of Brian Griese at quarterback. I honestly don't know if I've ever seen him play a game as the starter of a team. He seems, from the little bit I heard about the press conference he had on Wednesday, like a pretty smart and funny guy. That impression is backed up by the most recent couple of Laurence Holmes's blog posts. As much as Grossman seemed entirely likeable, he never seemed especially smart. I'm willing to believe smart bodes well, at this point.

Other than that, though, not really much would surprise me with Griese. He could come out and suck terribly for the rest of the season, and just be another in a long string of unremarkably boring Bears quarterbacks. Or, he could come out confident and swinging, and turn the Bears offense into the force they seemed to expect it could become at the beginning of the season. The only thing I feel relatively certain of is that he won't turn the ball over at the rate Grossman has been doing. And that, at least, is a plus.

But what I'm more seriously interested in knowing is how long it will take before the Chicago crowd starts chanting "Orton" after every miniscule mistake Griese makes. Is it possible we even make it to week 12 before that happens?