[CBFF] What to Do about Rex? A Strategy of Therapy

[Westmalle Dubbel van't Vat]

>From the CBFF blog (
http://bloggeddrain.typepad.com/cbff/2006/12/what_to_do_abou.html):

What to Do About Rex? A Strategy of QB Therapy

By Steve Lake

We are witnessing one of the most disappointing player meltdowns I have ever
seen as a lifelong (37 year) Chicago Bear fan.  After a shaky pre-season,
Rex Grossman started the regular season looking like All World.  He brought
a deep play threat to the Bears offense that, in most games, still managed
to move the chains.  And when they did, the Bears were putting up record
numbers on offense, outscoring (of all teams) Peyton Manning and the Colts
on that side of the ball.

But then the Arizona game hit and so began a season of increasing discontent
with Rex Grossman.  He looks like he is back in the preseason--or worse.  I
won't rehearse the stats.  I won't review the reality.  We fans are all
familiar it.  What to do with Rex? is the question on every Bear fan's mind.

If I were to play armchair psychologist, I would say he is mentally in a
rut, a funk.  Not sure if that is a psychoanalytic category, but it works
for me.  He himself has attested as much this past week before the media.
He said that his mistakes are all mental.  And it is clear, most of his
mistakes are errors in judgment.  Yesterday against the Vikings it was
mostly bad choices that resulted in a dreadful 36 yds passing/3 INT/1.3 QB
rating stink bomb.  He said all week that he knows he has to protect the
ball better, make better decisions. . .but 3 INTs later, he did no such
thing.  I can only think he is beating himself and the result is plain to
see. 

What's worse, Rex's troubles seem to be impacting the offense a whole.  It
now appears to be out of sync.  Rex's vaunted leadership qualities are no
use when the offense only gets 6 first downs the whole day.

Something somewhere is not getting through to him.  And I fear Rex is
mentally taking himself out of the game.  He hears the message but in the
game, he is deeply entrenched in a game of his own, playing mental tricks on
himself.  Again, I am not sure if this is a technical term found in the DSM,
but Rex is playing like a delusional freak out there.

Here's what this armchair psychologist prescribes:

Let Rex watch from the sidelines for the next two weeks.  Then bring him
back for Detroit and GB.  Announce that is the strategy, then let him
mentally take a couple of weeks to get some perspective.

The advantages of this strategy are several.

First, it gives Rex time with the pressure of the game off his shoulders to
clear his mind and to work on fundamentals.  I would be in favor of QB coach
Wade Wilson being tasked to work solely with Rex the two weeks Griese
starts.  Take him back to training camp, so to speak.  View film of games
where he was 'on' and let him try to rediscover what he was doing right.  It
is there, it just needs time outside the pressure, I believe, to resurface.
Teach him patience--for the first time in his football life!

Second, this strategy lets Griese see some significant playing time before
the playoffs, lets him get in sync with the first team offense and Turner's
system in some real time competition.  The games Griese would be playing are
a road game in St. Louis on MNF and at home against his former team, the
Bucs.  If he is serviceable, then you know you have him ready if Rex cannot
pull it together to carry the offense through the playoffs.  The competition
for Rex, knowing that his successor might just be on the field already and
that he might lead the team to the promised land and not him, should really
put some things into perspective for him.  Rex would learn that patience is
not an option.  And given Griese's own style of play--a manager-of-the-game
if there ever was one--should be a good model for Rex to observe, too.

Third, Rex would be scheduled to return with two weeks to prep for the play
offs against divisional foes.  Rex would return for the final road contest
in Detroit and at home against GB.  Both teams may be looking for some
payback from the early season licking the Bears put on them.  They'd love to
rattle Rex's cage going into the playoffs.  That is the kind of competition
he needs at that point: teams that on paper are bad and are out of the
playoff race, but who are always dangerous as divisional rivals, playing
with chips on their shoulders.

Finally, there are some legitimate worries that the Bears have clinched so
early that they will lack challenges to galvanize them for playoff
competition.  Each of the final 4 opponents are worse than .500.  And if
they win at least 3 of the last 4, they are probably headed for a first
round bye.  But under the strategy I propose, the team has a drama--a
story--they are living out these four final weeks.  It give not just Rex but
the team something to play for, to prove.  Can we fix the broken offense in
time? is the question they have to answer.  It is potentially the kind of
challenge which makes SB champions.

On the other hand, if in those last two games Rex still struggles and Griese
has been at least a serviceable, manage-the-game alternative, then I think
you have to make the call: Griese is our QB for the playoffs.

-- 
http://drlake.blogspot.com