As a disastrous season for the Bears’ offense winds down, one can’t help but wonder how much of a difference Rex Grossman might have made.
Would the Bears be 6-5 instead of 4-7 if he hadn’t blown out his knee in the third game of the season?
With the threat of an actual passing game, would Thomas Jones be averaging 5.0 yards per carry, as he did when Grossman was playing, instead of 4.1?
Would new offensive coordinator Terry Shea be seen as a genius instead of the guy who convinced his bosses that Jonathan Quinn could help the Bears win as a backup quarterback?
General manager Jerry Angelo put together this Bears roster, and he doesn’t see a need to take it apart. The defense and special teams have won some games for the Bears, but the offense has lost more.
“Offense is our weakest area, but we haven’t gotten the play at the quarterback position that’s needed, so I don’t want to go into the off-season thinking there’s a lot of ills,” said Angelo, who has agreed to terms with veteran Jeff George. “I don’t think there are a lot of ills. We have a lot of good football players there. It’s unfortunate we haven’t been able to get them more involved on a more consistent basis, in particular our wide receivers and tight ends.”
The Bears concentrated on offense in free agency last winter, bringing in tackle John Tait and Jones. Tait injured his knee in the 21-7 Thanksgiving loss at Dallas and Jones was held to 46 yards.
The Bears have been unable to create much room for Jones, who has averaged 3.5 yards per carry since Grossman was injured. In the five full games he has played since Grossman was injured, he has managed more than 59 yards just once. In the first three games, he averaged 110 yards.
“Thomas Jones, we knew he’d be good, and he literally hit the ground running,” Angelo said. “Obviously we expected big things from John Tait, and he hasn’t disappointed us.”
The loss to the Cowboys gave the nation a chance to see what Chicagoans have been seeing for two months, not that they tuned in for that. The Bears started the season with an inexperienced quarterback corps and continue to pay the bill.
“We haven’t been able to get wide receivers and tight ends involved in the game plan on a consistent basis,” Angelo said. “Justin Gage is a prime example. We really haven’t seen him do anything like he did last year and we know he’s a good football player.
“The offense has been unable to create any consistency, making plays on third down to keep drives going, getting in a rhythm and flow get things going. We have spots, but so few you don’t create continuity. You want to play Anthony Thomas, but we don’t get enough snaps to do that so it has been frustrating for all involved.”
Coach Lovie Smith specifically declined to blame Grossman’s replacements, Quinn and rookie Craig Krenzel, for all the problems.
“We’re not pleased with how we’ve performed offensively–all phases of our offensive team,” he said.
Of the 37 NFL quarterbacks who have thrown 90 passes, Quinn is 36th with a passer rating of 53.7 and Krenzel is 37th at 52.5.
The failures of Quinn should put the Bears in the market for a veteran quarterback to compete with Krenzel for the right to be No. 2 behind Grossman. Maybe they already have him in Chad Hutchinson. With Krenzel likely out with an ankle injury suffered Thursday, Hutchinson may get the chance to answer that question over the next five weeks.
Quinn was signed away from Kansas City because of his background in the system Shea was bringing from the Chiefs. The Bears have lost all five games in which Quinn has appeared.
Smith professes no regrets about the quarterback depth chart.
“You look at any team in the league,” he said. “Very few have two [QBs] they feel have starting-type ability,” Smith said. “And if your starter goes down, you’re in a little bit of trouble. You get down to your third quarterback, you’re in trouble and you have to make the best of that situation and go from there, and that’s what we have done as a team.”
