Fans at Soldier Field once chanted his name, but it turns out Brian Griese wasn’t the answer at quarterback for the Bears — at least not in his season debut Sunday against Detroit.
While quarterback play isn’t the only problem for Chicago, it is certainly the most visible one.
“What was he thinking?” fans must be demanding after each miscue. But then, fans begged for that same answer after every turnover by Rex Grossman, who was benched a week ago for his ineffective play.
So what have Griese and Grossman been thinking?
Perhaps the better question is, “What are they feeling?”
The book on Griese always has been that while he doesn’t have Grossman’s physical tools — and may be a bit rusty after not starting consistently for two seasons — he’s a veteran quarterback noted for his calm demeanor. But who can tell what’s ruminating in Grossman’s mind?
He has been benched indefinitely for the first time in his career.
After throwing six interceptions and only one touchdown this season, he has been booed simply for taking the field with the offense. There was even a report that former Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera called him a “mental midget.”
Rivera refuted the story, but the fever pitch of negativity could have played a role in Grossman’s subpar performance, according to the psychologists who spoke with RedEye.
“Obviously it would be a stressor to have a city turn against you and to be struggling like he is,” said Rick Zinbarg, director of the anxiety and panic treatment program at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. “Once you start pressing — even pressing to try not to be anxious — basically at some level you’re telling yourself that if you do tighten up, something bad is going to happen. Those types of beliefs are then going to create anxiety.”
Widespread public criticism such as Chicago’s outcry over Grossman is “one of the uglier parts of sports,” said Alan Goldberg, a Maryland-based sports psychology consultant whose client list includes professional athletes.
“He’s being publicly humiliated. What he’s having to deal with has been awful,” Goldberg said. “It’s hard enough to maintain your focus on a weekly basis, never mind everything you listen to is putting you down. It has to affect him on the field.”
The worst thing Grossman — and now Griese — could do is pay attention to the media coverage of their struggles, Goldberg said.
“If you want to survive as a professional athlete, you really have to insulate yourself from all of this,” he said. “He has to surround himself with people who believe in him and not people who are ripping him.”
While Goldberg cannot gauge the specific psychological state of the Bears quarterbacks, he said a common trap for athletes is an “outcome focus,” in which they concentrate on the result of a given contest at the expense of the individual plays.
In fact, former All-Pro quarterback Chris Miller suggested Grossman’s move to the bench might be beneficial in the long run if it frees him to further study the details of the offense.
“Sometimes I think it’s good for a change,” said Miller, who played with Griese in Denver in 1999. “Rex might not admit that, but maybe it will do Rex good to soak it in from the sideline, maybe turn the dial down a little bit as far as pressure and heat.”
Miller is confident Grossman will have another shot at proving himself in the NFL.
“You know in this league you’re going to get another shot,” he said. “I hope he has a successful career and gets his confidence back.”
Former Bears quarterback Shane Matthews said he saw signs that Grossman was trying to do too much.
“Sometimes when you don’t play well for a couple of weeks in a row, you start pressing to make the big play to get the fans excited about you,” Matthews said. “The problem with Rex is he wants to make the big play. There’s nothing wrong with that, but also play within the system and try not to turn it over.”
So can Grossman rebound from this?
“It depends on the resiliency of the individual,” Goldberg said. “I think some players, it finishes them. Some players are hard-shelled, and they can put it behind them.
“If he can’t control his focus as a result of this, he’ll be out of the league in no time.”
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Michael Hines is a Redeye special contributor
