Wherever Kyle Orton or Rex Grossman go, Chicago Bears fans will follow with at least some interest. Whether it’s the local media peppering small updates now that they’re just starting out with new teams, or Twitter, or “SportsCenter,” they’ll find out about their performance somehow.

Orton’s and Grossman’s mediocrity was discussed all the time in Chicago; whether they rise above it in their new homes, or crash and burn will be of interest to us. (Personally, I’m rooting for both of them, because I’m just that kind of guy.)

Along those lines, here’s a look at what Kyle Orton did this weekend:

Orton was moving the Broncos down the field and had Denver in the red zone when he tossed his first pick. Nate Clements made a nice play on a Kyle Orton ball thrown into the end zone for the interception.

Orton’s next pick was terrible. He set up a Dré Bly interception by staring down his receiver, telegraphing his throw like Alexander Graham Bell. The 49ers scored as a result of the play.

Orton was picked for a third time by backup strong safety Reggie Smith. He finished with a 32.6 passer rating, which speaks for itself on the kind of night it was.

Yeah, that’s three interceptions. This all comes after the boo birds reigned down on him during an open scrimmage in which he threw two picks.

And Grossman?

Houston’s Rex Grossman is expected to miss about a month with a hamstring injury and the Texans are looking to sign another quarterback to fill in until he’s healthy.

Yikes.

As was my motto this morning, it’s but one preseason game, and you can never fault a guy for getting injured (unless he did it in a stupid way on the sidelines or off the field). But yeah: all signs are trending downward at the moment.

According to Drew Rosenhaus’s Twitter feed, and UFL tryouts and bum raps aside, most likely:

Despite a rough start last season, Texans QB Matt Schaub recovered well after his injury, and closed out the season strong. His backup, Sage Rosenfels, was acquired by Minnesota in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick, so that might be the spot they are trying to fill with Grossman here.

Other than that, I got nothing for ya.

HT: KSK

UPDATE: Rex is now a Houstan Texan.

Last week, there were reports Rex Grossman would be trying out for the UFL. His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, quickly squashed those reports and was adamant his client would be on an NFL roster next season. As much fun as those UFL reports were, I was a little surprised: Is Rex Grossman really that bad? Bad enough that at 28 years of age, he’d be out of football for good? Now, I’m not saying Grossman definitely deserves to be a starter somewhere, but surely he could at least hook on as a backup somewhere.

As of today, Grossman is still without a home. And according to Pete Prisco at CBS Sports, it might have more to do with Grossman’s label than his actual talent.

How is it that Kyle Orton, who played behind Grossman in 2006, is now a hot commodity in Denver and Grossman can’t even get a sniff? I have a theory: It’s called labeling.

NFL front-office types are good at that. They gossip a lot between themselves and when a player gets a label, it’s hard to shed. When Byron Leftwich was looking for a job this past offseason, he did so with a label of his own. Bad guy, they said.

Three general managers asked me if he was a bad guy because they knew I lived in Jacksonville and knew Leftwich and several other players on the Jacksonville roster. That perception wasn’t even close to the truth. Teammates loved the guy. I told those general managers just that.

Grossman’s label is one of an erratic passer who isn’t good enough to be even a backup. Remember the “Good Rex” and “Bad Rex” references from the 2006 season? When he played poorly, he was the latter. When he played well, he was the former.

Keep reading →

UPDATE: For what it’s worth, today Drew Rosenhaus told the Sun-Times via text: “We have not considered any other leagues. He will be on a NFL roster by the start of training camps.”

Ever since Rex Grossman filed for free agency on March 1, I have heard little about the man. Was he in hiding? Maybe he had some weird biochemical accident, and he’s going to re-emerge as Superquarterback, possessing the greatest skills behind center the NFL has ever seen. Or maybe, something more likely: No teams are really sniffing around for his services.

As such, it appears Grossman may have to look outside the NFL. According to UFLaccess.com, he’ll be participating in drills at the United Football League’s “Pro Day” in the coming weeks.

KLAS TV out of Las Vegas recently reported that NFL “Name” quarterbacks would be participating in a United Football League “Pro Day” in Las Vegas in the coming weeks. We spoke with a source who said that Rex Grossman and Graham Harrell are two of the players who will be participating in drills in front of the UFL head coaches.

One can’t blame Grossman here: If the guy still wants to play football and the NFL isn’t going to work out, you go somewhere else.

Godspeed, Sex Cannon. May the wind always be behind the footballs you sling 15 yards out of bounds.

If there is one thing I will miss from the dearly departed quarterbacking duo of Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton, it’s their greater existence as Internet memes. Grossman was not just a Bloomington, Indiana kid who had an arm that lead him to Florida and eventually the Bears. No, he was the Sex Cannon, and he was going to throw it downfield. Always.

Kyle Orton was not just a Purdue product who managed games for the Bears instead of actually playing the position. No, he was the Neckbeard. He was the dude that once you Google image searched him, it’s all Jack Daniels, all the time. He was the Deadspin Hall of Fame inductee.

With Jay Cutler, I feared that was all gone. But no, I was wrong. Both Page Six and Gawker are reporting Cutler was canoodling with Internet fameball Julia Allison over the weekend at Chicago’s own Club Hub 51. As the photo accompanying this post also shows, Greg Olsen was hanging out with them as well. (If you don’t know who Allison is, this Wired cover story is a good place to start. I admit to knowing an unhealthy amount about her.)

So yes, Cutler hasn’t even taken a snap for the Bears yet, and he’s already hanging out on the town with the poster child for Internet fame — a blog-worthy meme for literally any site that covers the Web, gossip, technology … you name it.

Jay Cutler, relevant after all, yall!

First spotted at KSK.

A lot of sports teams have pep talks during spring practices. The coach — if it’s a big-name school — brings in some celebrity to prepare the team as they prepare to prepare for the upcoming football season.
This year, Steve Spurrier, head coach (em up) of the South Carolina Gamecocks, brought in the one and only Bob Knight to speak to his team. No, seriously.

Knight spoke to the Gamecocks on Thursday. Knight, who won three NCAA titles with Indiana, was in town for ESPN’s broadcast of the South Carolina-Tennessee basketball game.

Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier says he’s known Knight for several years and was glad to have him out at practice.

First of all, I’m going to do the respectable thing and skip all the Bob Knight screaming “The only c–k you understand involves s–king, you pathetic little chickens—s!” jokes. (My fake, angry Coach Knight has developed a punny sense of humor in his older age, thanks for asking.)

And I’m also not going to touch on the innumerable number of “Smelley” laughers that are out there. Instead, I’m kind of curious about something that Orson mentioned today: “Knight is an old acquaintance of Spurrier’s, and is responsible for showing a tape of a relatively unheralded Indiana recruit named Rex Grossman to Spurrier.”

Bob freaking Knight introduced the world to the Sex Cannon? Is that true? And if so, how the hell did I not know that? Admittedly, Grossman was a monster in high school (FanHouse’s Matt Snyder saw him in person, so I don’t even need to quote stats, obv) but you have to believe that if he doesn’t land in the Spurrier’s high-powered attack system, then he probably wouldn’t have tortured Chicago for all these years. So, couple that with Eamonn and Ryan being Bears fans and Indiana alums, and, yes, that would make it highly likely that Knight ruined their favorite football teams.

Of Chicago’s two major newspapers, the Chicago Tribune has a reputation as being the classier, newsier of the two. The editorial gulf between the Sun-Times and the Trib isn’t as wide as, say, the New York Post and the New York Times, but the Tribune does have a history of being the classier paper. At the very least, it gives you your news with a straight face, or it means to.

Which is why the paper’s decision to feature a Rex Grossman Countdown Clock today feels out of character. It seems classless, petty, the sort of fury-building device usually reserved for bad talk radio. Rex Grossman is an unpopular cat, but he doesn’t deserve that, does he?

If you read David Haugh — the story linked directly above the Tribune’s countdown — the answer is no. The paper’s own columnist writes:

Bears fans will miss him like they miss frostbite. Not since Cade McNown has Chicago been so happy to rid itself of a quarterback. That’s not fair, and that’s the point. [...] What’s much harder to understand as Grossman departs is why Chicago revolted against the person as well as the quarterback. Big jerks have come and gone through the city’s sports gates without becoming the polarizing force Grossman oddly became.

The guy even was booed at Soldier Field Family Night last August. The public probably never will know the worst of the abuse he took.

Keep reading →