Enough is enough

I feel as if the national media is banging us over the head with a frying pan--repeatedly. OK. We get it. Rex Grossman isn't as good as Peyton Manning. Who is?

Immediately following the Bears win over the Saints, a columnist over at the Sports Illustrated website wrote a column about Rex Grossman being the worst QB in the history of the Super Bowl. He said that you can't give the distinction to Jeff Hostettler, Trent Dilfer or Mark Rypien because those guys at least won the game--keep in mind, Grossman hasn't played the game yet; if he wins, will he be taken off the list? The columnist then tried to save himself a bit, saying that even if you don't agree that Grossman is the worst QB in the history of the Super Bowl--you have to admit that no matter who wins the AFC Title game, he will only be the second best QB in the game.

Wow! Stop the presses. Sports Illustrated is going out on a limb and making the statement that Rex Grossman isn't as good as Peyton Manning or Tom Brady. In other news, the sky is blue and the Bears play in Chicago. Come on, here. We get it. Rex Grossman has the ability to lose this game for the Bears. He has shown throughout the year that there is a higher probability he will cost the Bears the game than there is that he will single-handedly win it for them. But this doesn't qualify as a newsworthy opinion anymore because every single sports journalist in the country seems to be saying the exact same thing.

Imagine this. You're in college. You do a thesis paper and try to prove that Reggie Bush did in fact deserve to win the Heisman Trophy in 2005--well, there was no opposition to him winning. In fact, he won the award in a land slide. You'd probably get a failing grade for trying to prove the obvious. It's no different with these ridiculous "Rex Grossman is no Peyton Manning" columns. It's obvious. Stop writing it. We already knew it.

A much more interesting story, though, might be that Peyton Manning could cost his team a Super Bowl win. There's something that hasn't been written about lately.

Sure. People know that Manning has had post season failures. His Tennessee team didn't win until the year after he left. His Colts teams didn't win a playoff game until two years ago. He couldn't get past Tom Brady. He has never won a championship. But still. All of these stories seem to have one common thread to it: a built-in excuse. As in, "Peyton Manning has never won a championship...but it isn't his fault that his defense has never been that great." Forget the fact that he has historically struggled against good defenses (N.E., Pittsburgh, Baltimore, San Diego).

Forget that he has thrown only two touchdowns in these playoffs while allowing nine picks- or that his defense and run game led the Colts to the Super Bowl--not his 'laser rocket right arm,' as he says in one of his many commercials. Forget all of this. Because the failures and shortcomings of Manning will obviously be overcome because of one simple fact: He's better than Rex Grossman...the guy who has thrown eight less picks in these playoffs and as many TD passes while playing in one less game.

Obviously Baltimore's and N.E.'s defense are better than those of New Orleans and Seattle, and that played a part in Manning's high number of turnovers. However, the Bears defense--while behind Baltimore in talent--is still ahead of N.E. and K.C., two teams Peyton struggled against this post-season. Don't be shocked if those same struggles show on February 4 and they cost Indianapolis a championship.