[CBFF] 3 (plays) and out for Bears -- chicagotribune.com - Sent Using Google Toolbar

[mactbone]

I don't get the point. Is he trying to say that if the Bears just stick with Grossman that they'll get into the playoffs?

Here are the guys who started this past year and the two previous for the same team and failed to make the playoffs:
Carson Palmer
Donovan McNabb
Marc Bulger

Guys who started all of the past year and the year previous and didn't make the playoffs:
Drew Brees
Jon Kitna
Steve McNair

It's correlation, not causation. If you have a good QB, you will keep him and he will start for multiple years and give your team a better shot at the playoffs. If you have a bad QB then you probably miss the playoffs and search for a better one.
-Chris

----- Original Message ----
From: ShannonToBeRead <shannontoberead at gmail.com>
To: post at chicagobearsfanforum.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 9, 2008 9:57:05 AM
Subject: [CBFF] 3 (plays) and out for Bears -- chicagotribune.com - Sent Using Google Toolbar

3 (plays) and out for Bears -- chicagotribune.com




www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/cs-080108davidhaughbears,1,560272.column
chicagotribune.com
3 (plays) and out for Bears

David Haugh

On the Bears

9:32 PM CST, January 8, 2008



If a short punt doesn't bounce off an unsuspecting Brandon McGowan and
the Chargers don't convert the recovered fumble into a go-ahead
touchdown, the Bears might have held on to win their Sept. 9 season
opener.

If Rex Grossman tucks the football instead of fumbling it away on
what looked like a game-tying, fourth-quarter drive Nov. 18, the Bears
might have gone on to beat the Seahawks.

If Devin Hester looks a nicely placed Grossman pass into his hands
Dec. 2 instead of letting the ball bounce off his shoulder pads, the
Bears likely would have beaten the Giants instead of blowing a
fourth-quarter lead.

Three first-round playoff winners move on—the Chargers, Seahawks and
Giants. Three teams the Bears had a chance of beating late in their
respective games but didn't.

Three plays.

When coach Lovie Smith says the Bears are close, this is what he means.

If any or all of those plays had gone differently for the Bears, they
might still be playing football.

While no longer near the area code of being a Super Bowl contender as
Smith might suggest, the Bears indeed aren't that far away from being
a playoff team. The first weekend proved that about a team that lost
seven of its nine games to teams that finished .500 or better (the
other two came to the 7-9 Lions).

That might sound like revisionist history. But given the grim sports
present we find ourselves in, it's all we have in Chicago.

What else is there for a Bears fan to do three months before the NFL
draft, debate Jake Long versus Sam Baker?

If possible, seeing the Chargers, Seahawks and Giants win so
convincingly only made a 7-9 season harder to swallow. Flawed as they
were, the Bears have every reason to believe after watching those
games that they had as much talent as the four NFC playoff teams in
action. Objectively, they did.

The Bears were bad. But other than the Patriots and Colts, the
playoff field is uniformly mediocre. That's still good enough to make
the postseason in today's NFL, where making the postseason draws the
line between success and failure everywhere but New England and
Indianapolis.

Was the Redskins' season a waste because it ended with a first-round
playoff loss? Quite the contrary. Making the postseason gave a tough
year enough meaning in Washington for Joe Gibbs to feel better about
walking away from a job well done.

The postseason's first weekend also drove home the point Smith and
Jerry Angelo were making last week about the link between winning and
a consistent starting quarterback.

Love him or hate him, Rex Grossman-impersonator Eli Manning delivered
for the Giants. Same with the Chargers' Philip Rivers, the Seahawks'
Matt Hasselbeck and the Jaguars' David Garrard. Only Garrard didn't
start every game for his team in '07, and he had the highest season
passer rating of the four: 102.2.

Teams that find stability at quarterback don't spend January looking
for answers. Only a year ago, the Bears made that point themselves.

dhaugh at tribune.com

Copyright (c) 2008, Chicago Tribune

_______________________________________________
Check out the CBFF Blog:
http://chicagobearsfanforum.com/blog
CBFF Homepage:
http://chicagobearsfanforum.com


      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Looking for last minute shopping deals?  
Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.  http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping