What is the Rex Grossman Factor you ask? Why poor Rex? I am from Chicago and he is the example of what I am about to write about. “The Rex Grossman Factor” consists of three parts, the first part would be to achieve a high level of success in his position, the second is his confidence being destroyed by attacks from fans and media, and the third is total collapse. of everything that has targeted his entire life.

Basically, Rex Grossman brought a winner wherever he went. He led his Bloomington South (IN) High School team to a 5A title in 1998, passing for 3,080 yards and 44 touchdowns. He was also named Indiana Player of the Year and named to the All American team. Yes, Rex was on his way to do something special. Rated and labeled as one of the top prospect quarterbacks in the Midwest. He ranked in the top five in the nation.

He went to the University of Florida. I’m not going to bore you too much with stats and crap, so bear with me. Rex was a Heisman Trophy finalist as a sophomore. Let’s face it, 9,164 yards over three seasons speaks for itself, even if there’s no defense in college. He broke all kinds of records, fifth all-time in his conference for passing, the list goes on and on.

Drafted by the Chicago Bears in the first round (22nd overall) and signed on July 25, 2003. Things were looking good for Rex and Chicago. We finally had a quarterback, even though I hadn’t seen an NFL snap in his life, he was the Band-Aid that was going to stop the Chicago quarterback’s bleeding. Rex was a winner, more promising than any quarterback the Bears had ever thrown on the field.

Then Rex is sidelined at the start of the 2003 season and Chris Chandler and Kordell Stewart get the call as the starting quarterback, under the management of Dick Jauron.

Goodbye Dickie, hello Lovie. In 2004, Lovie, newly appointed head coach of the Chicago Bears, proclaims that “Rex is our quarterback.” Rex starts the season and three games later, he has a torn ACL at the end of the season. As Bears fans, we’re used to seeing our quarterbacks take a beating, so that’s fine, we’ll just have to move on without him.

2005 rolls around and the Bears look great and feel great. Rex later breaks his ankle in a preseason game and misses most of the season. However, he was able to return at the end of the year and put the Bears past the Green Bay Packers to secure a playoff spot. And then he was beaten by the Carolina Panthers in a game where Rex was tense and nervous and never found a rhythm the entire game.

Now this is our year. Comes 2006 and Rex is healthy and can throw the ball, we all think as Bears fans. We go through the first half of the season, Rex is named player of the month in September, he had seven games with a passing rating of 100 and yes, five games that were atrocious. Mainly, he was what we had to work with and, in fact, he was working.

We’re going to the Super Bowl and Rex had already started getting flak for pretty much everything he did on the field, getting us to the Super Bowl wasn’t good enough for the media or the fans, we were calling a General, a Captain. , to take charge and lead our troops to victory. Well, I don’t think Rex ever wanted to be that, but he had this expectation that he created early in the season and he wanted to live up to it, putting so much pressure on himself to reach that level of play, that Rex had started to crumble. mentally, never really finding a way to consistently stay on top of his game. The Bears lose the Super Bowl to the Indianapolis Colts at the end of the season.

Now, if you were to talk to any Bears fan, it’s Rex Grossman’s fault the Bears lost Super Bowl 41. In fact, after that, everything the Bears did wrong was Rex’s fault. The media and the fans, just day after day begging for his head, only saying the nastiest things and taking the poor guy down. It was horrible.

It’s 2007 and Rex is off to a couple of rocky starts when Soldier Field boos Rex Grossman just for being on the field and chants Brian Griese’s name. The boy from Indiana with the golden arm who was going to take us somewhere was finished. Having only played in just 28 games, Rex had a 23-5 record.

“The Rex Grossman Factor” is that of the many things that make or break all these athletes, it’s not what you see on the field or on the court. But it’s what these guys have to deal with day in and day out. All the exposure they get, especially in a big city like Chicago, finding a way to keep a level head and handle all the trash thrown at them.

I heard a song on the radio that someone had remixed about Rex Grossman when the Bears were undefeated in the fall of 2006. He was the Lord our savior. A year later people want to see his head on a guillotine. Because he didn’t win the Super Bowl and he played poorly. Then he got criticized to the point where no human being should do it he’s not the devil and he’s not even that bad of a quarterback but if you believe what you see and hear you’d think Rex Grossman would eat your kids and be I’d take your pop warner football kit to the bathroom.

My heart goes out to any of these guys who make a mistake on the field and can’t handle the pressure. If we had people in our lives doing that to us every second of every day, some of us wouldn’t be able to do our duties and whatever. I know they’re professionals, and it’s what elevates them above everyone else, that’s why they get paid to play kid’s games and be role models and superstars. But the fans and the media make it something that it doesn’t have to be.

Stop! Stop trying to bring all these guys down, to me it’s the same as people beating up Jessica Simpson for putting on a few extra pounds or Britney Spears is at the bar having a drink. Why do we hold people like this to such a high standard? than ourselves. The simple fact of being in the public eye does not make you different from others, we are all the same. I hate to think that we live in a society where we feel better about ourselves by making other people feel completely inadequate. We are creatures of habit and repetition, most people who are bombarded with negativity, all the time, become susceptible to believing it themselves, virtually destroying their will or desire to do anything.

So my friends is “The Rex Grossman Factor”