Different Game, Same Rex

By Jared Trexler

Bold and brash, Rex Grossman ran into the locker room at halftime of Super Bowl XLI with lifted spirits after Adam Vinatieri's shocking miss as time expired.

He pumped his fist and shook his head, 30 minutes complete with a fumbled snap but also a touchdown pass. Manageable and meticulous in his approach, Grossman made the proper decisions, nary a throw fleeting with disaster.

He was doing his job -- not losing the big game.

Even after three quarters of murder on the stat sheet, Chicago trailed just 22-17 with Grossman under wraps and the game still in reach. But the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl is for John Elway and Brett Favre. Steve Young and Joe Namath.

Lovie Smith never wanted to ask Grossman to WIN the game. Yet, without a dominating running game and the clock ticking toward defeat, Smith was in search of a game-changing play.

And he got one. The play that tomato-topped hot dog lovers and deep-dish pizza fanatics had feared during the last two weeks became a reality.

Kelvin Hayden didn't bite on one of Chicago's favorite pass plays -- a stop-and-go pattern down either sideline. Grossman had enough protection in the pocket to realize Hayden was playing off, not even flinching when Mushin Muhammad tried selling a hook.

But he threw it anyway. Manageable and meticulous turned into unwise and unsafe -- the microcosm of Grossman's bi-polar decision-making since Week 1.

Hayden played the ball like the receiver, hauling in the interception without his heel touching chalk. Fifty-six yards and one leap later, Chicago found itself down two scores.

Immediately after failure, Smith was forced to put the ball back in Rex's hands. He had no other choice.

Grossman completed the first two passes of the next series, setting the Bears up at their own 39-yard line with just over 10 minutes on the clock. Offensive coordinator Ron Turner decided to dial up another season-long favorite, keeping Grossman in some semblance of a comfort zone while maintaining an aggressive scheme.

A play-action fake and a five-step drop left Grossman comfortably in the middle of a well-formed pocket as Bernard Berrian ran a skinny post. He was open -- behind the corner and with the angle on safety Bob Sanders -- but instead of leading him toward the post, Grossman threw a rain-soaked lollipop down the seam.

Sanders made up the ground, then snatched the ball and Chicago's season out of mid-air.

"The Colts defense is so good at not giving up big plays," CBS analyst Phil Simms immediately stated. "When you have a chance at a big play, you have to take advantage. (Rex) Grossman didn't take advantage."

That summed up Super Bowl XLI perfectly. A tired defense on the field for 38:04 and 81 plays still limited the Colts to just one touchdown in six red-zone trips. The special teams made a statement with Devin Hester's 92-yard kickoff return, which not only gave the Bears a 7-0 lead but forced subsequent squib kicks and constant good field position.

Thomas Jones ran for 112 yards, including a 52-yard scamper that set up a touchdown. Yet, when given every opportunity, every chance to make THE play of Super Bowl XLI, Grossman stayed to the season-long script.

No longer bold and brash, Grossman sat alone in Tropical Storm Disaster as the game ended, a complete 360-degree turn from his emotions just 30 game minutes earlier.

When finally dry and under control of his emotions, Grossman repeated the same theme in many different variations to a media herd dying for a scream or lapse in judgment.

"It is what it is."

A game nearly in the Bears' grasp, fading quickly behind two ill-advised throws, ending in a pool of rain drops that could have been tears.

And Grossman "Bears" plenty of blame.

Jared Trexler can be reached at jtrexler@phanaticmag.com.

**Photo courtesy of Getty Images**

More Super Bowl XLI post-game coverage from The Phanatic Magazine through Tuesday.