Grossman has had his ups and downs as Bears' QB

MIAMI (AP) -- Rex Grossman absorbed the criticism, heard the calls for him to be benched, then did enough to help the Chicago Bears get to the Super Bowl.
"When I was drafted, one of the first things that people told me was that the backup quarterback was the most popular player in town," Grossman said Monday.
Despite Grossman's up-and-down season -- excellent at times, abysmal at others -- the Bears still won 15 games and earned a date with the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. That's where he'll really be in the spotlight, playing the same position as Peyton Manning.
"In my first full season I've had about 12 games, including the playoffs, I'm really proud of. And about six -- five or six -- that I'm really not proud of. They were bad," Grossman said. "I need to work on those six games, but I'm happy where I'm at. I'm at the Super Bowl. I've had 12 great games and I still feel like I had a good season."
Grossman's season bottomed out in the finale against the Packers when he had a quarterback rating of 0.0 and then admitted after the 26-7 loss he didn't prepare as well as he should have.
He regrouped to pass for 282 yards in a victory over Seattle in the Bears' first playoff game. And he was just good enough in the NFC championship game against the Saints, hitting four straight passes during a key second-half scoring drive as the Bears made the Super Bowl for the first time in 21 years.
Grossman was the NFC offensive player of the month for September and the Bears rushed to a quick start. Some even whispered he was on the path to an MVP season with the Bears' offense looking so potent.
But in a Monday night outing at Arizona -- the Bears' sixth game -- Grossman threw four interceptions in a game Chicago rallied to win 24-23. He also had shaky games in losses against the Dolphins and Patriots, and another weak one against the Vikings, when his QB rating was 1.3.
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