As I so often do in life, I see both sides to the booing argument. (Though I side more with the booing than the not booing.) I think fans have paid good money for their seats, and if they are displeased with the performance of the team on the field, they are well within their right to boo, boo and boo some more. However, it certainly isn’t going to help the psyche of the team or player you are directing the ire at, so is this really the best course of action? (If you are drunk, this hypothetical question does not apply to you.)

Enter Lovie Smith and Brian Urlacher (via FanHouse).

“The fans are a big part of what we’re doing,” Smith said. “When you go through adversity, I see everyone rallying together [and] using positive reinforcement. Negative reinforcement has never really worked for me. … I would just hope that most of the time we’ll hear positive reinforcement to help us get through some of those times. That’s what a team does.”

[ ... ]

“We’ve got a quarterback who comes in off the bench and leads us to a victory, and they boo him right out of the gate,” he said. “Poor guy. Lucky for him he’s resilient and he came back and led us to two scoring drives. But man, it’s tough.”

Let’s face it: Grossman is in a rough spot here. Bear fans are so jaded, so cynical about last season’s ills with him at the helm, that he’s going in to the role of starter now with little support for the fanbase. Probably a bit unfair, but it is what it is.

Lucky for him, three of the four games he’s likely to start are on the road.