Super Bowl XLI: Bears vs. Colts, Sun 2/4, 5:30 pm CT

[David]

So Colts fans, why is Peyton refusing to comment on his injured thumb?

 

I can't decide if he wants to downplay the importance of it (Peyton has never wanted to talk about his injuries when he has had them, of course they've never been serious enough for him to miss a single game in his career) or just a little bit of gamesmanship. I think it's the former, but I can't be sure.

 

I wasn't aware that Peyton told Sorgi to "be ready" until I watched the NFL Replay last night. Since he was able to continue in the AFC Championship, I don't think it's a big deal.

 

He pretty much had to continue in the AFC Championship game. But, all during that time, he kept working the thumb to avoid it tightening/swelling up. It is when you quit working it that it tightens up and causes a problem.

 

But, with nothing showing up on x-ray and 2 weeks to heal, he'll probably be fine. Whether he'll still be fine the first time he gets hit hard is another question.

 

X-Rays don't show much in terms of ligaments and tendons though. I'm going off the fact he continued afterwards, and played well. Things can be done to reduce swelling and pain just for the duration of one game.

Honestly, if the Bears can't get some pressure on this guy I think we're in trouble. I do think the Bears offense can do a few things, but that defense will need to at least limit the Colts to a dull roar.

 

True... they can numb the pain. But, if he's still in pain for that game, numbing the pain means numbing his whole thumb, on his throwing hand, and quite possibly a decent sized portion of the surrounding area...

 

I can't imagine that's very helpful in terms of throwing a football.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Poll on ESPN.com right now:

Who is the worst Superbowl quarterback ever?

- Trent Dilfer

- Tony Eason

- Vince Ferragamo

- Rex Grossman

- David Woodley

 

 

 

Grossman is actually winning (which is completely ridiculous). Only been 39,000 votes, but he has a third of them.

 

 

Honestly, I would LOVE to see Rex have the game of his life. If he somehow threw for like 400 yards, I would probably pass out from laughing so hard. I know it probably won't happen, but damn, leave the guy alone.

 

It's unbelievable... Look at the names on that list. It's ridiculous. Yet, some people would still have you think that there is no national media bias against the Bears.

What a ridiculous poll. Grossman hasn't even played in the Super Bowl yet. Let's see how he does before we make him into the worst SB QB ever.

 

The vote is for the worst QB to make it to the Super Bowl, not the one with the worst performance there.

[David]

The vote is for the worst QB to make it to the Super Bowl, not the one with the worst performance there.

 

Thanks for clearing that up.

[Chris]

Poll on ESPN.com right now:

Who is the worst Superbowl quarterback ever?

- Trent Dilfer

- Tony Eason

- Vince Ferragamo

- Rex Grossman

- David Woodley

 

 

 

Grossman is actually winning (which is completely ridiculous). Only been 39,000 votes, but he has a third of them.

 

 

Honestly, I would LOVE to see Rex have the game of his life. If he somehow threw for like 400 yards, I would probably pass out from laughing so hard. I know it probably won't happen, but damn, leave the guy alone.

 

It's unbelievable... Look at the names on that list. It's ridiculous. Yet, some people would still have you think that there is no national media bias against the Bears.

What a ridiculous poll. Grossman hasn't even played in the Super Bowl yet. Let's see how he does before we make him into the worst SB QB ever.

 

The vote is for the worst QB to make it to the Super Bowl, not the one with the worst performance there.

 

Do well in the Super Bowl, Bob Sanders.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Poll on ESPN.com right now:

Who is the worst Superbowl quarterback ever?

- Trent Dilfer

- Tony Eason

- Vince Ferragamo

- Rex Grossman

- David Woodley

 

 

 

Grossman is actually winning (which is completely ridiculous). Only been 39,000 votes, but he has a third of them.

 

 

Honestly, I would LOVE to see Rex have the game of his life. If he somehow threw for like 400 yards, I would probably pass out from laughing so hard. I know it probably won't happen, but damn, leave the guy alone.

 

It's unbelievable... Look at the names on that list. It's ridiculous. Yet, some people would still have you think that there is no national media bias against the Bears.

What a ridiculous poll. Grossman hasn't even played in the Super Bowl yet. Let's see how he does before we make him into the worst SB QB ever.

 

The vote is for the worst QB to make it to the Super Bowl, not the one with the worst performance there.

 

Do well in the Super Bowl, Bob Sanders.

 

Will do. :wink:

[CubColtPacer]

Poll on ESPN.com right now:

Who is the worst Superbowl quarterback ever?

- Trent Dilfer

- Tony Eason

- Vince Ferragamo

- Rex Grossman

- David Woodley

 

 

 

Grossman is actually winning (which is completely ridiculous). Only been 39,000 votes, but he has a third of them.

 

 

Honestly, I would LOVE to see Rex have the game of his life. If he somehow threw for like 400 yards, I would probably pass out from laughing so hard. I know it probably won't happen, but damn, leave the guy alone.

 

It's unbelievable... Look at the names on that list. It's ridiculous. Yet, some people would still have you think that there is no national media bias against the Bears.

 

Obviously the people in that poll disagree with you (considering Grossman is winning)-while I am not sure that Grossman is one of the worst QB's ever in a Super Bowl, he is definitely one of the 2 or 3 worst in the last 10 years-

Look at this list

2005-Big Ben, Hasselbeck

2004-Brady, Mcnabb

2003-Brady, Delhomme

2002-Brad Johnson, Gannon

2001-Brady, Warner

2000-Dilfer, Collins

1999-Warner, McNair

1998-Elway, Chandler

1997-Elway, Favre

1996-Favre, Bledsoe

1995-Aikman, O'Donnell

 

Before that we had QB's like Aikman and Kelly, and names like Montana and Elway that were in several of the SB's the years before that. The SB has always been populated by great QB's.

 

The only QB's you could even put Grossman next to on that list are Big Ben, Brad Johnson, Dilfer, Collins, Chandler, and O'Donnell. I just looked up all their stats, and Grossman is worse than all of them in important stats like completion percentage and TD/INT ratio (I didn't look at rating, but if Grossman is behind in those, he likely isn't above any more than 1 person at most in rating also, since those stats are key in compiling the QB rating).

 

This is no national media bias-Grossman is growing and will be a very good QB one day, and has had many very good days-but when one looks at his stats compared to other QB's, he deserves to be on the list of the worst QB's to ever play in a Super Bowl.

 

Edit: If Bob already cleared up your question, I'm sorry. I didn't see his response till after I wrote this, but I did find the analysis interesting, so I'm going to leave it up as it is.

[Chris]

Yet, some people would still have you think that there is no national media bias against the Bears.

 

For the record, I hardly think that a poll asking for the worst QB to ever make the Super Bowl proves a national media bias against the Bears.

[David]

Yet, some people would still have you think that there is no national media bias against the Bears.

 

For the record, I hardly think that a poll asking for the worst QB to ever make the Super Bowl proves a national media bias against the Bears.

 

For the record, I do.

 

It's a joke to even see Rex's name included with those players.

 

Do you guys even realize how bad those other guys were?

 

Do you?

 

David Woodley - Best known for being the guy who came after Bob Griese and before Dan Marino. Squeezed in a Super Bowl in a strike-shortened season and went 0-for-8 in the second half.

 

Trent Dilfer, Baltimore Ravens, Super Bowl XXXV: Giants fans still see his 38-yard TD pass to Brandon Stokley over Jason Sehorn in their nightmares. He was 11-of-24 for 115 yards the rest of the game. Ravens cut him a few months after his victory trip to Disney World.

 

Tony Eason, New England Patriots, Super Bowl XX: Part of the famed QB Draft Class of '83. Looked afraid of the Bears' 46 defense in week leading up to the game. Played like it, too. He was 0-for-6 before he was benched for Steve Grogan.

 

Vince Ferragamo, L.A. Rams, Super Bowl XIV: Didn't have much experience before an injury to Pat Haden made him the starter down the stretch and through the playoffs. Had a 19-17 lead over the Steelers in the fourth quarter. Career went nowhere from there.

 

Grossman has more talent in his left foot than these bums.

[Soul]

Yet, some people would still have you think that there is no national media bias against the Bears.

 

For the record, I hardly think that a poll asking for the worst QB to ever make the Super Bowl proves a national media bias against the Bears.

 

It's already been proven there's a media bias against the Bears. This just adds to it.

[Soul]

Obviously the people in that poll disagree with you (considering Grossman is winning)-

 

Obviously the people in that poll are morons. As they were when they picked us 1-and-done.

[Chris]

Again, the argument is not the worst performance in the Super Bowl, it's the worst to make it to the Super Bowl.

 

Looking at the stats (I know, regular season stats mean nothing now) the Bears had better get an early lead. Although Rex had a 102.9 rating with the lead, he had a rating of 49.6 when behind.

 

For the record, he's pretty good with a 15+ point lead (rating of 93.6)

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Again, the argument is not the worst performance in the Super Bowl, it's the worst to make it to the Super Bowl.

 

That's fine, but to act as though Rex is the worst QB to ever start in the Super Bowl is ridiculous and shows the general nature of the anti-Rex sentiment in the nation.

 

ETA: Or they're just stupid.

Edited January 25, 2007 by CaliforniaRaisin

[goonys evil twin]

Obviously the people in that poll disagree with you (considering Grossman is winning)-

 

All that proves is how many stupid people there are that follow football.

 

This is no national media bias-Grossman is growing and will be a very good QB one day, and has had many very good days-but when one looks at his stats compared to other QB's, he deserves to be on the list of the worst QB's to ever play in a Super Bowl.

 

The problem is that putting him in a group of the worst QB's in the super bowl suggests he will have a career no better than those guys. Even if you narrowed it down to say who had the worst season, you'd be an idiot for including Grossman. Grossman did more good things this season than any of those QBs did throughout their careers.

[David]

Again, the argument is not the worst performance in the Super Bowl, it's the worst to make it to the Super Bowl.

 

Looking at the stats (I know, regular season stats mean nothing now) the Bears had better get an early lead. Although Rex had a 102.9 rating with the lead, he had a rating of 49.6 when behind.

 

For the record, he's pretty good with a 15+ point lead (rating of 93.6)

 

Could that possibly have anything to do with the fact that when the Bears have a big lead, Grossman is already having a good day, and when the Bears are behind (which hasn't been all that often this season), he's been having a bad game?

 

Stats like that are ridiculous. As is the stat that refers to his rating in 4th quarters. He's sat out a good deal of the 4th quarters of his big games. The Bears have also consistently ran the ball and ran out the clock at the ends of games in which they've had leads.

 

I hate these situational stats. They're just as absurd in football as they are in baseball.

Edited January 25, 2007 by David

[CubColtPacer]

Yet, some people would still have you think that there is no national media bias against the Bears.

 

For the record, I hardly think that a poll asking for the worst QB to ever make the Super Bowl proves a national media bias against the Bears.

 

For the record, I do.

 

It's a joke to even see Rex's name included with those players.

 

Do you guys even realize how bad those other guys were?

 

Do you?

 

David Woodley - Best known for being the guy who came after Bob Griese and before Dan Marino. Squeezed in a Super Bowl in a strike-shortened season and went 0-for-8 in the second half.

 

Trent Dilfer, Baltimore Ravens, Super Bowl XXXV: Giants fans still see his 38-yard TD pass to Brandon Stokley over Jason Sehorn in their nightmares. He was 11-of-24 for 115 yards the rest of the game. Ravens cut him a few months after his victory trip to Disney World.

 

Tony Eason, New England Patriots, Super Bowl XX: Part of the famed QB Draft Class of '83. Looked afraid of the Bears' 46 defense in week leading up to the game. Played like it, too. He was 0-for-6 before he was benched for Steve Grogan.

 

Vince Ferragamo, L.A. Rams, Super Bowl XIV: Didn't have much experience before an injury to Pat Haden made him the starter down the stretch and through the playoffs. Had a 19-17 lead over the Steelers in the fourth quarter. Career went nowhere from there.

 

Grossman has more talent in his left foot than these bums.

 

Talent, sure. Has Grossman played better than those QB's though? Here are the the season statistics of all 5 QB's you mentioned-

 

QB A: 48% completion percentage, 5 TD/10 INT, 7.1 Y/A, 8 games played

QB B: 59.1% completion percentage, 12 TD/11 INT, 6.7 Y/A, 9 games

QB C: 54.7% completion percentage, 5 TD/8 INT, 6.0 Y/A, 9 games

QB D: 54.6% completion percentage, 23 TD/20 INT, 6.7 Y/A, 16 games

QB E: 56.2% completion percentage, 11 TD/17 INT, 7.2 Y/A, 16 games (came out in 7 games).

 

Is there really that much difference between these QB's? There's a couple really bad ones in there, and a couple decent ones, but none of them are anywhere close to typical Super Bowl QB's.

 

One more thing-QB E is getting a little too much blame for his Super Bowl year-the year before, he had 23 TD/8 INT's with 5 TD's running the ball along with 3200 yards passing. That's almost MVP numbers in some years. In addition, the year after the Super Bowl he went back to 19 TD and 10 INT-which makes me think that he was hurt most of his Super Bowl year, which caused the really bad numbers.

 

Grossman may be the best or 2nd best on that particular list (I would say second best right now), but his numbers still put him as at least on the list.

[CubColtPacer]

Obviously the people in that poll disagree with you (considering Grossman is winning)-

 

All that proves is how many stupid people there are that follow football.

 

This is no national media bias-Grossman is growing and will be a very good QB one day, and has had many very good days-but when one looks at his stats compared to other QB's, he deserves to be on the list of the worst QB's to ever play in a Super Bowl.

 

Grossman did more good things this season than any of those QBs did throughout their careers.

 

I would completely disagree with that. The best numbers of all of the QB's on the list so far:

 

Eason: 61.6% completion percentage, 23 TD/8 INT, 3328 yards, 7.5 Y/A, 5 TD's rushing

Ferragamo: 59.4% completion percentage, 30 TD/19 INT, 3199 yards, 7.9 Y/A, 1 TD rushing

Woodley: I don't want to embarrass him by posting his numbers-let's just say he's the worst QB to ever make a Super Bowl

Dilfer: 56.2% completion percentage, 21 TD/11 INT, 2555 yards, 6.6 Y/A, 1 TD rushing

Grossman: 54.6% completion percentage, 23 TD/20 INT, 3193 yards, 6.7 Y/A, 0 TD rushing

 

To predict that Grossman will have a better career? Fine. To say that Grossman has done more this season than those QB's did in their entire careers? With the exception of Woodley, absolutely not. Eason and Ferragamo's seasons blow Grossman's out of the water, and Dilfer's is a little better as well.

[BigSlick]

Poll on ESPN.com right now:

Who is the worst Superbowl quarterback ever?

- Trent Dilfer

- Tony Eason

- Vince Ferragamo

- Rex Grossman

- David Woodley

 

 

 

Grossman is actually winning (which is completely ridiculous). Only been 39,000 votes, but he has a third of them.

 

 

Honestly, I would LOVE to see Rex have the game of his life. If he somehow threw for like 400 yards, I would probably pass out from laughing so hard. I know it probably won't happen, but damn, leave the guy alone.

 

It's unbelievable... Look at the names on that list. It's ridiculous. Yet, some people would still have you think that there is no national media bias against the Bears.

 

Obviously the people in that poll disagree with you (considering Grossman is winning)-while I am not sure that Grossman is one of the worst QB's ever in a Super Bowl, he is definitely one of the 2 or 3 worst in the last 10 years-

Look at this list

2005-Big Ben, Hasselbeck

2004-Brady, Mcnabb

2003-Brady, Delhomme

2002-Brad Johnson, Gannon

2001-Brady, Warner

2000-Dilfer, Collins

1999-Warner, McNair

1998-Elway, Chandler

1997-Elway, Favre

1996-Favre, Bledsoe

1995-Aikman, O'Donnell

 

Before that we had QB's like Aikman and Kelly, and names like Montana and Elway that were in several of the SB's the years before that. The SB has always been populated by great QB's.

 

The only QB's you could even put Grossman next to on that list are Big Ben, Brad Johnson, Dilfer, Collins, Chandler, and O'Donnell. I just looked up all their stats, and Grossman is worse than all of them in important stats like completion percentage and TD/INT ratio (I didn't look at rating, but if Grossman is behind in those, he likely isn't above any more than 1 person at most in rating also, since those stats are key in compiling the QB rating).

 

This is no national media bias-Grossman is growing and will be a very good QB one day, and has had many very good days-but when one looks at his stats compared to other QB's, he deserves to be on the list of the worst QB's to ever play in a Super Bowl.

 

Edit: If Bob already cleared up your question, I'm sorry. I didn't see his response till after I wrote this, but I did find the analysis interesting, so I'm going to leave it up as it is.

 

Its very unfortunate (in Grossman's case) that the last 10 years, very strong Qb's have made it to the Super Bowl, but before that, many many MANY mediocre to bad quarterbacks were littering the Super Bowl.

 

I'd like to think Grossman is better than Trent Dilfer anyway.

[BigSlick]

I'd like to say that Saints fans were nicer to our Qb than you meanie Colts fans.

 

Lay off him! You don't want to be put into the same situation with egg all over your face from the "worst quarterback ever to play in a Super Bowl"

 

Sexy Rexy is winding up boys. He's got nothing to lose if you declare him the worst QB in the Superbowl era. Whats stopping him from whipping it all out?

[Chris]

I'd like to say that Saints fans were nicer to our Qb than you meanie Colts fans.

 

What's mean about a discussion? If I was posting OML REX GROSSMAN WURST EVAR!*&!% maybe I'd see the point.

[CubColtPacer]

I'd like to say that Saints fans were nicer to our Qb than you meanie Colts fans.

 

Lay off him! You don't want to be put into the same situation with egg all over your face from the "worst quarterback ever to play in a Super Bowl"

 

Sexy Rexy is winding up boys. He's got nothing to lose if you declare him the worst QB in the Superbowl era. Whats stopping him from whipping it all out?

 

I'm still scared of him. With all that has been said, Grossman still has the potential to step up and have a masterful game. He has proven that very much with his several great games this year. He has proven that he can almost singlehandedly win or lose a game for the Bears, which few QB's have ever been able to do. I really have no idea what to expect out of him because I don't know what the gameplan by the Bears will be. If they can keep the pressure off of him, he should have at least a decent day, if not a great one. If Freeney and Mathis get around, then Grossman is going to fumble a couple of times because he hasn't proven that he can evade the rush consistently like Brady did so well last week. I'm very interested if the Bears are going to try to A) rely on their running game, B) try trick plays for misdirection, C) go to 3 step drops, D) go max protect, or E) All of the above. Grossman just has to make a couple great drives, and then try to let the defense do their work. I'm hoping the Colts can rattle him early, and force the Bears to pass.

[David]

Obviously the people in that poll disagree with you (considering Grossman is winning)-

 

All that proves is how many stupid people there are that follow football.

 

This is no national media bias-Grossman is growing and will be a very good QB one day, and has had many very good days-but when one looks at his stats compared to other QB's, he deserves to be on the list of the worst QB's to ever play in a Super Bowl.

 

Grossman did more good things this season than any of those QBs did throughout their careers.

 

I would completely disagree with that. The best numbers of all of the QB's on the list so far:

 

Eason: 61.6% completion percentage, 23 TD/8 INT, 3328 yards, 7.5 Y/A, 5 TD's rushing

Ferragamo: 59.4% completion percentage, 30 TD/19 INT, 3199 yards, 7.9 Y/A, 1 TD rushing

Woodley: I don't want to embarrass him by posting his numbers-let's just say he's the worst QB to ever make a Super Bowl

Dilfer: 56.2% completion percentage, 21 TD/11 INT, 2555 yards, 6.6 Y/A, 1 TD rushing

Grossman: 54.6% completion percentage, 23 TD/20 INT, 3193 yards, 6.7 Y/A, 0 TD rushing

 

To predict that Grossman will have a better career? Fine. To say that Grossman has done more this season than those QB's did in their entire careers? With the exception of Woodley, absolutely not. Eason and Ferragamo's seasons blow Grossman's out of the water, and Dilfer's is a little better as well.

 

Taking Grossman's season numbers as a whole is very convenient. It's also extremely misleading.

 

I'm not sure there's many QB's where you could take out their 3 worst games, and their numbers would go from this:

 

262 of 480 (54.6%) 3193 Yards 23 TD 20 INT 73.9 Rating

 

to this:

 

240 of 412 (58.3%) 2982 Yards 23 TD 10 INT 89.3 Rating

 

And that's not to say you can just throw out those games. It's meant to illustrate that his overall numbers don't really tell you very much in terms of his game to game performance. A few (3) REALLY bad games turned his stats from very good to just below average.

[Soul]

There are many who believe Dilfer, for example, would have had much better career numbers if he would have been placed in a passing offense. He was almost always expected to manage a run-first offense, and he did it reasonably well. Nobody ever took notice of the fact that Dilfer actually had one of the stronger arms in the NFL----because it was just plain seldom used.

 

Grossman can obviously sling the ball anywhere on the field, as could Dilfer. It's not the Bears style, nor should it be, and the fact that the Bears are capable of completing a 70 yard drive solely with the running game does not mean Grossman would not be capable of running a pass-first offense.

 

The QB rating itself is one of the most overrated statistics in the history of sports. It says nothing about team strategy, team philosophy, what happened in the key plays that decided the game. You can literally post a terrible QB rating and be the primary reason your team won the game. That makes the stat useless.

[CP_414]

I'd rather have Rex be the worst quarterback to win a Super Bowl, than the best (or second best) to never win a Super Bowl, like the other guy playing in this game. Next Sunday Rex will shut everyone up.

[Sammy Sofa]

All Rex has to do is not cough up the ball, which he has drastically cut down in this year's playoffs. In both games he's also come up with some key plays and drives that directly lead to the Bears winning. He doesn't have to be earth-shattering...just not horrible.

[David]

There are many who believe Dilfer, for example, would have had much better career numbers if he would have been placed in a passing offense. He was almost always expected to manage a run-first offense, and he did it reasonably well. Nobody ever took notice of the fact that Dilfer actually had one of the stronger arms in the NFL----because it was just plain seldom used.

 

Grossman can obviously sling the ball anywhere on the field, as could Dilfer. It's not the Bears style, nor should it be, and the fact that the Bears are capable of completing a 70 yard drive solely with the running game does not mean Grossman would not be capable of running a pass-first offense.

 

The QB rating itself is one of the most overrated statistics in the history of sports. It says nothing about team strategy, team philosophy, what happened in the key plays that decided the game. You can literally post a terrible QB rating and be the primary reason your team won the game. That makes the stat useless.

 

Case in point - the playoff game against the Seahawks...although his rating in that game was more below average than terrible.