Sunday, November 02, 2008

Alienation

I don't normally worry too much about this sort of thing, because I think the "expert" analysts, mostly former jocks, make a much bigger deal out of it than it really is. But something bothers me about his photo. There's Rex Grossman emphatically spiking the ball after what turned out to be the game winning touchdown. There are John Tait--one of the biggest leaders on the team--and Greg Olsen--who's emerged during Grossman's time on the bench as the most important receiving threat on the team. They're both just watching Grossman celebrate all by himself. They're just kind of staring at him. They're not even smiling. If Orton is really going to be out for four weeks--if he's even only out next week--we need the team to be behind him. But the way he always has seemed to have just been hanging out by himself on the sideline every time we've seen him so far this season, and in light of how strongly the team has embraced Orton, I wonder if the team figures Grossman's already halfway out the door--and good riddance. I hope my suspicions are incorrect, or that they have no actual impact on the playing of the team, because we can't afford to have something like that trip up our season just at the crucial time that the playoff run begins.

Also, did you notice in Smith's press conference, he didn't seem to really be willing to commit to Grossman being the starter in Orton's abscence? It would be bizarre and stupid, I think, for them to throw Hanie in right now, and I can't imagine that's actually what's going to happen, but it just seemed odd to me how waffly Lovie seemed about Grossman being the starter for now...

All I want, regardless of anything else, all I want is for the team and the coaches to come together and pull out a victory against Tennessee next week. Either Green Bay or Minnesota is going to be 5-4 after next week, and I don't think we can afford to be tied with either of them at any point for the rest of the season.

2 comments:

micah james said...

Hey you need to read this article. I think it should appease your fears for Rex.
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/bears/1257697,rex-bears-bowen-110308.article

micah james said...

It's the Suntimes article about Rex by Matt Bowen.