Bears-Rams Monday Night Football Notes
The 10-2 Bears head to the St. Louis to take on the 5-7 Rams. One would think that there wouldn’t be too much more to say about this game, maybe just some talk of the Bears defense versus the Rams offense. But this matchup has most of its focus on the quarterback position because Rex Grossman finished last week’s game with a quarterback rating lower than a pre-election interest rate and Marc Bulger called out his teammates saying that they didn’t care about winning.
Bulger obviously wasn’t thinking at the time that making such statements could make himself subject to higher scrutiny from his teammates and the media if he can’t perform up to standards this week. I maybe would have saved those comments for next week’s visit to Oakland. It’s apparent that he’s put himself in a do or die situation which reflects the Rams playoff hopes. Perhaps, Bulger thought that if the Rams were going to have a shot at the Bears this week and to stay in the playoff picture, he would have to go to drastic measures-ballsy move for a normally soft spoken quarterback. My opinion is that he wasn’t thinking. This guy is a football player, not a chess master. Frustration takes another in-house issue and puts it firmly in the media’s grasp.
If Grossman even starts off this game with an incompletion he will be booed. If he throws an early interception, Bears faithful will be dialing the mob to take him out. I wonder if they have ever stopped to realize that they could be making things worse for this guy. I know we think that these guys are getting paid millions of dollars so they can deal with the heat. But it’s tough to throw completions with the entire largest city in the Midwest ready to string you up. I wouldn’t know, but I can only assume. I think Grossman plays better this week, but this guy can’t do enough right right now to make anyone happy other than maybe Lovie Smith. The cries for Griese will still be here next week.
The Colts defense reminds me of this Grossman situation. They were taking some lumps, but they were doing more than enough to get the job done most of the time. Some close wins, in a society that wants perfection, got some people thinking that these guys could be better if the defense could stop the run. More and more talk of how crappy the run defense is puts more and more pressure on the Colts. Give up one big play and the entire defense is already reading tomorrow’s headlines. The Colts can thank the media for opening that can of worms. I’m sure Rex Grossman will be sending Christmas cards to all of his favorite reporters.
Will Grossman need to play better for the Bears to cover? Absolutely! Will Bulger need to back up his words? Absolutely! So who wins? There’s more to this matchup than meets the eye. Jeff Alexander has gone inside and out every individual matchup and has covered every angle and he’s ready to deliver one more time in week 14. Play with the best tonight.