Griese is the Word/ Week 4 Picks

This week, a giant sigh of relief, mixed with various levels of cheers, could be heard in living rooms, sports bars, and offices in every corner of the Chicagoland area. Rex Grossman was finally benched in favor of someone else. In this case, the someone else is Brian Griese, perhaps the more popular Bears quarterback over the past two years even though he has yet to take a regular season snap.

My only reaction to this is the declaration that it won’t be long before we’ll be calling for his head, as well. In case we might have forgotten, Brian Griese isn’t exactly the Messiah, or Tom Brady. What he might be is a second coming of Chris Chandler, the Bears QB during the Dick Juron era. Which isn’t a bad thing, really. If you don’t mind three and outs, and falling asleep during Bears games, or Bernard Berrian begging for a fade route. Just one. Because I'm pretty sure that if Griese tried to throw anything longer than 15 yds, his arm would fall off.

And I'm not just banging on Griese because he's a Wolverine. Or that his dad is one of my least favorite football announcers (second only to Brent Musberger). This guy did have a Pro-Bowl year (7 years ago), but in the preseason, he didn't exactly look spectacular. The balls he threw didn't exactly have the Grossman zip on them. He didn't exactly light up the scoreboard. So what's going to change for an offense ranked 30th in the NFL?

This is going to be the average series for the new-look Bears O: Benson, run down the middle, 2 yd. gain; Benson, run left, 1 yd. gain; Griese, 5 yd. completion to Olson; Punt. And Griese will probably throw just as many pics as Rex, and get sacked just as much, but he won’t fumble snaps, and he’ll make a 58.6 QB rating look better than Rex did, and they may be all that Lovie is looking for. But don't look for the Bears to be significantly improved.

The Bears won’t win the division. That much is clear. Not with that offense, and not with the new bevy of injuries to that once stellar D, and not with those Packers rolling. The Packers D is amazing (AJ Hawk), and Favre is playing pretty well. They’ll go 10-6 or 11-5 and lock up the NFC North. The only question that remains is will the Bears get a Wild Card berth? If not, the question becomes, will they draft a QB in the first round next year, or go after a veteran free agent? Is Jake Plummer still retired?

My week 4 picks

Last week (9-7), Overall (18-14)

HOME TEAM IN CAPS

Houston over ATLANTA

NY Jets over BUFFALO

Baltimore over CLEVELAND

DALLAS over St. Louis

DETROIT over Chicago

MIAMI over Oakland

Green Bay over MINNESOTA

Tampa Bay over CAROLINA

Seattle over SAN FRANCISCO

Pittsburgh over ARIZONA

INDIANAPOLIS over Denver

SAN DIEGO over Kansas City

Philadelphia over NY GIANTS
Game of the Week:

New England over CINCINNATI