By Freddy Cohen
Bears fans, starving for another Super Bowl Championship, got a teaser last season when their team made it all the way to the Super Bowl for only the second time in their illustrious history. Rex Grossman, the starting quarterback during that run has become the physical embodiment of the roller coaster ride Bears fans have experienced over the course of the past few seasons. I cannot recall another player in the NFL whose fans question so lustily whether the team was victorious because of or despite his performance.
Grossman, a former first-rounder out of Florida, was pre-ordained the quarterback of the future by Chicago management. Injuries plagued his opening act.  His second act, though not completely written, has featured a strange and enigmatic journey. He’s has been called “Good Rexâ€, “Bad Rexâ€, “Potential Rex†and I would add even “T-Rexâ€, as his future with the Bears has looked at times like that of a species headed for extinction. Just when you think he’s finished, however, he entertains fans with another glimpse of what was promised in the early moments of is professional career. An injury last week to Brian Griese forced Grossman back under center where he delivered a 59 yard strike to receiver Bernard Berrian, propelling the Bears to a 17-6 win over the hapless Oakland Raiders.
Bears fans have the propensity for becoming overly enthusiastic when the final outcome goes their way, failing to see the bigger picture which bears cracks all about Solder Field. In defeating a hapless Oakland squad, the Bears struggled mightily until the end, even trailing 6-3 until 3:11 left in the fourth quarter when Grossman hit Berrian with the go-ahead score. Grossman was also anemic until the touchdown, going 5-12 for a paltry 72 yards beforehand. It was the same old Rex, with a flash (albeit when it counted).
Part of the fans’ disappointment in Grossman is based more on the illusion of Grossman’s potential greatness than anything else. The team, when successful, has relied on a Super Bowl-caliber defense and special teams to carry the load while the offense has been like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates… You never know what you’re gonna’ get. The times when the offense has let the team down it has been with such force as to bury them. Turnover-laden games have been turned on the dime of Grossman’s ineffectiveness and shoddy play calling. More often than not, the element that has led to downfall has been the poor decision-making and bad generalship of Grossman.
Many fans couldn’t stomach Grossman even during last year’s march to the Super Bowl. It’s quite unusual for fans of a team on the come to have such disregard for a young quarterback. Part of it is self-inflicted by Grossman’s perceived attitude which drips of arrogance for someone who has failed to accomplish much of anything on the pro level.
The illusion Grossman will be great is based on inconsistent glimpses of better-than-average play. He won’t grow taller without Bondsian help from a bottle.  Regardless of spectacular glimpses of what could be, the Bears, I believe, still have an inconsistent, unreliable quarterback at the throttle.
Another bust-in-waiting is their highly-touted running back, Cedric Benson. A former fourth pick overall out of Texas, Benson, it can be argued, is even a bigger disappointment than Grossman. He was, by most accounts, a stud in Texas. A bruising back there, he had all the tools you would look for in a back carrying the rock.
Benson had to share duties with Thomas Jones prior to this season. Jones, a smaller but overachieving (something that never will be said of Benson) back, helped create another illusion at Halas Hall that it was Jones who was grounding Benson’s star. Benson moaned last season about wanting to be ‘The Man’. Given the opportunity this season (Jones was unceremoniously shipped to the New York Jets), the reverse of what was hoped for actually happened. Instead of powering up the running game, Benson has relaxed as his chief rival is in Sopranoland.
Benson’s scouting report said he marched to his own beat and also noted his role model was none other than Ricky ‘The Bong’ Williams, who was Benson’s predecessor at Texas. Last week, Benson again carried the ball a ton (29 touches), but again for limited production (76 yards with a long of 9). He too is on the verge of “busting outâ€.
All this creates a serious dilemma for the Bears who have seemingly become old and boring overnight. The defense has been banged-up and special teams can’t do it all. Benson’s lifeless approach seems to be a surprise to GM Jerry Angelo. A serious dose of blame must go to Angelo for running a restaurant with a great front window, but eat at your own peril as the main dishes are sometimes served up cold and the desserts are inconsistent. If Angelo basked in the light last season when the team beat a weak field to top the NFC, then this year’s lackluster performance needs to be placed at the door of his office as well. The QB/RB duo he has such faith in have been duds until now as opposed to the big bang promised to fans. It’s in large part due to the fact Grossman and Benson have been twin busts that the team is underachieving in a division with much less room for error than the last several seasons when the Bears ruled the roost. I, for one, am certainly not averse to seeing a nice pair of busts, but this version is entirely unattractive.