“What message do you have for Rex?” a guy asked.
“What message?” an amused Brian Griese asked back.
At least it wasn’t as loony a query as the kind Kyle Orton was being hit with a few feet away.
A radio kook came up to Orton, stuck a microphone in the Bears third-string quarterback’s face and pop-quizzed him with the following sophomoric Q & A:
“Midgets–good or evil?”
“Men attending baby showers–yes or no?”
“Bears player most likely to get arrested during Super Bowl week–who’s your pick?”
Orton didn’t take the bait.
The 24-year-old handled it with maturity, the same way he has handled a demotion after being the No. 1 quarterback of last season’s 11-5 team.
As for Griese, who is 31, he showed up Tuesday morning at Dolphin Stadium in his hometown of Miami with his sunglasses on, braced to face the three kinds of questions that were sure to come his way:
– Questions about his dad, Bob, who quarterbacked the Miami Dolphins back in Super Bowls VI, VII and VIII (before Brian was born).
– Questions about his previous Super Bowl experience, XXXIII, exactly eight years ago Wednesday.
– And questions galore about Rex, Rex, Rex, Rex, Rex, last name Grossman.
(You might have heard of him.)
Grossman, Griese and Orton dined together Monday night at Joe’s Stone Crab, joined by a few of their teammates. They might not divide playing time evenly, but they did split the check at dinner.
“What message do I have for Rex, is that your question?” Griese repeated. “Well, let’s see.
“I suppose I’d try to tell him to stay positive, don’t take everything personally. There’s always going to be a sky-is-falling attitude out there. That’s the scrutiny we quarterbacks get. It’s not about fair or unfair. Some of the criticism is unwarranted, but when you have games like he did, it’s going to happen. I know. I’ve been there.”
A large crowd did not huddle around the two Bears backup quarterbacks when media day began. They are not the stars of this show.
Somebody did ask Orton if he thought there was a chance he could get into Sunday’s game.
“Nope,” he politely and correctly said.
Somebody else asked Griese if he could get into this game.
“You never know,” he politely and correctly said.
That’s the thing about backup quarterbacks. Much like a Broadway understudy, each is a play away … on call at a moment’s notice to step in.
Isn’t that the case?
“We’re football players,” Griese said. “Neither Kyle nor I are in this profession just to sit on the bench. You would like to play. I would love to play in this game Sunday.
“I don’t ever think I’ll be a career backup, if that’s what you’re asking. I’d like to get back on the field.”
Of course, if Griese does get into this game and onto that field, it could mean bad news for the Bears.
It would mean that Grossman was hurt or was not playing well. It would mean a Bears fan’s worst fear had come to pass.
Unless it meant that the Bears were so far in front on the scoreboard–Jim McMahon did give way to Steve Fuller late in Super Bowl XX–that Griese could get into a Super Bowl for the first time.
He never got a shot on Jan. 31, 1999, when Denver beat Atlanta 34-19 in Super Bowl XXXIII in this very same stadium. A ring, yes, he did get that. But he didn’t take a single snap.
“It was like studying all week for your 11th-grade chemistry test but then never getting to take the test,” Griese recalled.
His high school was Christopher Columbus, right here in Miami.
His father was no Columbus but definitely a Florida legend on a Ponce de Leon-like scale. Bob Griese, who will turn 62 on the eve of Sunday’s game, won a pair of Super Bowls quarterbacking the Dolphins.
They remain close. Brian and Bob planned to dine together Tuesday night at Caffe Abbracci, a favorite hangout of theirs in Coral Gables.
“I remember my dad telling me about a Super Bowl week in New Orleans, how he could just walk down any street and go out to dinner,” Griese said. “We couldn’t do that now. We’d be mobbed. We wouldn’t get 5 feet. I guess it speaks well for the success of the game.”
Once out of football, the elder Griese got into TV broadcasting. The younger quarterback has other options.
A political science major at the University of Michigan, he might go to Northwestern and seek a master’s degree. He might go into business then or venture into something else.
“Politics?” he was asked.
“I wouldn’t rule it out,” he said.
Griese nearly quit football in his junior year at Michigan.
“My plan was to get a master’s in public policy and then move to South America,” he said. “I had a thing about South America. I was going to become an ambassador and save the world.”
He speaks fluent Spanish.
“Don’t tell Telemundo,” he joked. “They’ll want to come interview me in Spanish, and I’m not sure I’m ready for that.”
What he is ready to do is to play in Super Bowl XLI.
“I’ve got to prepare like I’m going to play the whole game,” Griese said. “I take it very seriously, being ready to go if I’m called upon. I didn’t have an opportunity to play in the Super Bowl my last time. I do this time.”
He might not ever get a chance to save the world. He could get one Sunday to save the day.
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mikedowney@tribune.com
