...is always the one who isn't playing.

Seriously, good for Smith. Grossman has a great arm and an even better release. He needs to stop making bad decisions, and to do that, he needs the confidence that comes only with support from the coaching staff.

The interesting thing about the AFC's playoff picture is that Denver has already beat several of the teams that are bolded, but because they've managed to blow several late game leads they've dropped in the standings. Grrrr.

I'm not saying Rex Grossman is Terry Bradshaw, but let's remember how bad Bradshaw was in his first seasons with the Steelers. Bradshaw started playing in 1970 and didn't have more TD's than interceptions until 1975. All he did eventually was win four Superbowls.

Let Rex play and develop. The Bears have always been too quick to pull the developing QB's and too slow to pull the declining ones. If you let Grossman get confidence and figure out what he's doing wrong (which is mostly judgement and not talent-based), we might be looking at a very tough Bears team for the next five years or longer.

My blood alcohol content was probably higher than Rex's QB rating on Sunday. Lovie's loyalty to Grossman is admirable, yet a little troubling for us fans. Some of us still remember Da Coach's loyalty to lil' Doug Flutie, and how badly that turned out for us at playoff time.

Grossman is the Bears QB of the future, and I think he'll end up having a fine career, when all is said and done. For now, though, he needs to be kept on a short leash. If his bad play continues, Lovie should yank him, and go with Griese. Yeah, Brian Griese. The man has had some problems, but he's also had some great successes. As in, leading the league in QB rating, and going to the Pro Bowl in 2000.

Bottom line: Bears don't need a Pro Bowl level of play from the QB position to get to the Super Bowl. They simply need average/above average performances (a "game manager"), and if Grossman isn't ready to fill the bill, I'm confident that Griese can do the job.

Especially if they subvert them to their advantage. Heisman did this when he was coaching for Georgia Tech. He lost the national championship one year with an undefeated team because of point differentials (yesteryear's style points).

He had a contract to play Cumberland college in football the next year, but they had disbanded their football team and wanted out of the contract. Heisman refused to let Cumberland out of their contract, especially since Cumberland's baseball team had handedly beaten Tech's baseball team 22-0 and Heisman, as baseball coach, wanted a measure of revenge. He also was steamed about loosing the national championship on point differentials. His 1915, 1916, and 1917 teams were all undefeated but he only won the national championship in 1917.

So, Cumberland fielded a team of volunteers. And Heisman showed no mercy. Running up the score 222 - 0 against Cumberland to mock the sports writers who used point differentials in determining rankings.

Since we are now entering the "if Team A beats Team B" part of the NFL schedule, I feel (as a diehard Bronco fan) it necessary to point out that you made an error in the current AFC wild card "standings." You have the Bengals and Jets in (currently 5-3 and 5-4 in the conference) while the Broncos (at 7-3 in the AFC) are listed as out. Given there has been no head to head matchups among the three (although there will be by the end of the season), conference winning pct is the proper tie-breaker.

Given that the Broncs are on a fast slide to oblivion, these little mathematical games are all we Denver fans have to keep us warm at night.

This is Parcells 19th year as a head coach. This is the 7th year he has been a head coach without Bill Belichick as an assistant. In those 7 years he's never won a playoff game...........In the 12 seasons that he did have Belichick on the staff he went to three Super Bowls, won two, and had double digits in total playoff wins.

They have no chance to win it all. None. They'd stand a better chance if you gave them, today, the quarterback from at least 5 of the 10 BCS teams---Louisville, Ohio St, USC, LSU, Notre Dame---and give them a crash course in the playbook and start them from next week on.

Matt,

In the wildcard tie-breakers, where two teams are from the same division, the first step is to rank them according to their division records. KC is 3-1 in the AFC West, while the Donkeys are 3-2. KC is then compared to the Jets and Bengals, who have better conference records. Thus, they would be in, KC and Denver out.

My theory, presented on scant evidence other than it sounds plausible to me, a non-Bears fan, is that the rest of the team (defense, special teams, cheerleaders) all realize they need to play out of their minds every possession to compensate for the horrible 'judgement errors' they expect Grossman to commit.

Also, the Bears' opponents expect to get 4-5 turnovers per game against the Bears, and this means there is less momentum shift than normally occurs when you intercept a QB or recover his fumble. So, clearly, inserting a merely competent Griese into the mix would nullify the Bears hard-fought psychological advantages in these areas, and lead to a meltdown that could allow the Cowboys and the Parcells Circus to get over.

Stick with the cute girl who can't dance, Lovie.

I believe the quote is: "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." -H. L. Mencken.

As far as Brian Griese goes, Mike Shanahan made a pretty good salary inserting him into the lineup for years. But I think your overall point about Griese is correct - he's not going to win the Big One for you (or even get you all that close).

At the beginning of the playoffs. The Bears could easily ride a ferocious defense into the Super Bowl and win it. There is not a team in the AFC that has shown to have an unstoppable offense. Does anyone really trust the Colts at this point, given their history?