Bears
Griese agrees to 5-year
deal with Bears
March 21,
2006
BY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Brian
Griese agreed to a five-year deal with the Chicago Bears on Tuesday,
adding depth behind Rex Grossman at quarterback.
The
31-year-old Griese completed 112-of-174 passes for 1,136 yards
and led Tampa Bay to a 5-1 start last year before a season-ending
knee injury. The Buccaneers decided to waive him this month rather
than pay a $2.6 million roster bonus.
Griese
has passed for 16,344 yards and 103 touchdowns in eight seasons
with Denver, Miami and Tampa Bay.
The
Bears have said they are committed to Rex Grossman as their starter,
but Griese has started 72 of 75 games in his career.
After
tearing the ACL in his right knee early in the 2004 season, Grossman
broke his left ankle in the preseason and missed the first 13
games. Chad Hutchinson flopped, and rookie Kyle Orton began the
season as the starting quarterback.
Behind
a defense that was ranked No. 1 for much of the season, a strong
offensive line and effective running game, the Bears went 11-5
and reached the playoffs for the first time since 2001.
Grossman's
numbers-- 20-of-39 passing for 259 yards in two games-- weren't
overwhelming, but the passing game opened up when he returned.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Bears
don't let Griese slip away
March 22,
2006
BY BRAD
BIGGS Staff Reporter
A year later,
Bears general manager Jerry Angelo has the quarterback he longed
for.
In their first
big offseason move, the Bears agreed in principle late Tuesday
to a five-year contract with Brian Griese, providing them with
an experienced backup who can push Rex Grossman this summer.
Griese will
receive bonus money between $4 million and $5 million, and the
deal is thought to be worth between $14 million and $20 million,
depending on a multitude of levers based primarily on playing
time. One league insider called the acquisition "the best
move [Angelo] has made since he's been there.''
Griese adds
legitimate depth to a position that has been an Achilles' heel
for the Bears for decades, especially recently. They have changed
starting quarterbacks 28 times since the middle of the 1999 season.
Griese's career passer rating of 84.8 has been surpassed only
once, by Erik Kramer in 1995, since the Jim McMahon era ended,
and his 16,000 passing yards are more than anyone in franchise
history has.
THE BRIAN GRIESE FILE
Height: 6-3.
Weight: 214.
Born: March 18, 1975.
College: Led Michigan to an undefeated season and a share
of the national championship in 1997. NFL: Played in the 2000
Pro Bowl. Suffered a season-ending knee injury in 2005 after leading
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 5-1 start. Son of Pro Football Hall
of Famer Bob Griese.
| Year
|
Team |
G |
Comp
|
Att
|
Pct |
Yds |
TD
|
Int |
| 1998 |
Denver |
1 |
1 |
3 |
33.3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
| 1999 |
Denver |
14 |
261 |
452 |
57.7
|
3,032 |
14 |
14 |
| 2000 |
Denver |
10 |
216 |
336 |
64.3 |
2,688 |
19 |
4
|
| 2001 |
Denver |
15 |
275 |
451 |
61.0 |
2,827 |
23 |
19 |
| 2002 |
Denver |
13 |
291 |
436 |
66.7 |
3,214 |
15 |
15 |
| 2003 |
Miami |
5 |
74 |
130 |
56.9 |
813 |
5 |
6 |
| 2004 |
Tampa |
11 |
233 |
336 |
69.3 |
2,632 |
20 |
12 |
| 2005 |
Tampa |
6 |
112 |
174 |
64.4
|
1,136 |
7 |
7 |
| Totals |
|
75 |
1,463 |
2,318 |
63.1
|
16,344 |
103 |
78 |
Team officials
dined with Griese on Saturday -- his 31st birthday -- and he met
with coaches and management Sunday at Halas Hall, where he also
took a physical that provided the Bears with confidence his reconstructed
left knee will be ready for training camp. He tore the anterior
cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in mid-October after
leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 5-1 start.
Griese already
has started working on taking drops and is likely to be able to
participate in the June minicamp. He should be with the team for
the start of the offseason program, though he and his wife, Brook,
are expecting a child soon.
The Bucs wanted
to keep Griese but had to release him this month in a salary-cap
move. They were committed to Chris Simms as their starter, so
Griese began looking elsewhere, including the Cincinnati Bengals,
who wanted him to back up Pro Bowl quarterback Carson Palmer.
With the Bears, Griese comes into a situation where Grossman has
made only seven regular-season starts.
Grossman acknowledged
this month at the Bears' fan convention that he needs to prove
he is the man for the job with so little experience in his first
three seasons.
"I've
got a great opportunity to be able to prove I am the right guy,''
he said. "That's all I can ask for. You have to perform to
keep your job. That's true in every profession. I may have to
do it sooner and quicker, and that's what I expect of myself.
It may be a little bit more crucial to do it quickly because I
haven't done it before for an extended period of time.
"I just
have to stay healthy, and I know I'll do that. I am going to work
hard and put myself in the best position.''
Ralph Cindrich,
Griese's agent, said the free-agent visit went well and also spoke
highly of the meeting Griese had Monday with offensive coordinator
Ron Turner at Griese's home in Florida. It was expected a deal
could be hammered out within 24 hours, but with the nature of
quarterback contracts and with Cindrich exploring interest elsewhere,
it took a little longer.
No playing-time
guarantees have been made to Griese, but he will push Kyle Orton
-- who went 10-5 as a rookie starter -- to the No. 3 role he was
expected to occupy last season. Griese's camp was intrigued by
the situation because coach Lovie Smith has shown he is quick
to make changes when something is not working.
"Brian
went into this knowing they have a No. 1 quarterback, someone
they like,'' Cindrich said, "and there would be an opportunity
to compete and the club would put the best players on the field,
whoever they thought would help them win. It never went beyond
that.''
Griese went
to the Pro Bowl after his 2000 season with the Denver Broncos,
in which he passed for 19 touchdowns and threw only four interceptions.
He is viewed by some as the one who got away from the Bears in
2003, when they signed Kordell Stewart. Offensive coordinator
John Shoop was adamant that the team bring in Griese. If the Bears
had been able to wait for the Broncos to cut him, he might have
signed then.
As lukewarm
as Angelo was about veteran quarterbacks last offseason, he was
hot for Griese. It was in the midst of the quarterback upheaval
of 2004 that Angelo pledged not to go through another season without
a proven backup. Then three veterans came and went in free agency,
and the Bears entered training camp with Grossman, Orton and the
misjudged Chad Hutchinson.
The reasoning
provided for passing on the parade of veterans last March -- Kurt
Warner, Brad Johnson and Jay Fiedler -- was sound: The Bears wanted
to get the No. 1 quarterback right. Warner wanted the starting
spot that belonged to Grossman, Johnson was thought to have a
bum arm and Fiedler wasn't going to solve any problems.
bbiggs@suntimes.com
Copyright
2006, Digital Chicago Inc.
Griese back in role
of a lifetime
March 23,
2006
BY BRAD
BIGGS Staff Reporter
If Brian Griese
sounds perfectly at ease entering his role as Rex Grossman's backup,
it's because he has played it before.
Griese has
been put in competitive situations in the past. He beat out Jay
Fiedler for a spell in Miami three years ago and topped Brad Johnson
and then Chris Simms the last two seasons in Tampa Bay, where
he set a franchise record in 2004 with a 97.5 passer rating.
When he has
been forced into a position as a clipboard holder, he hasn't stayed
in it long.
"Being
around as long as I have in the league, I have been in some different
situations,'' said Griese, who started out backing up John Elway
and, for a brief period, Bubby Brister in Denver. "I've been
on both sides of that situation, and I feel very comfortable.
The only thing you can control in those situations is what you
do as a player and how you interact with your teammates, which
is critical.''
His comfort
with the situation was matched by Bears general manager Jerry
Angelo's exuberance. Having watched 10 starters take the field
in his five seasons with the team -- and going through at least
three in each of the last four seasons -- the acquisition of Griese,
released by the Buccaneers in a salary-cap move, was a great relief.
"Like
[I'm] standing on top of the John Hancock,'' Angelo replied when
asked how he felt. "As compared to where it's been, this
is the best we've been. It looks good on paper. Players still
have to go out there and prove themselves, obviously. Rex has
got to stay healthy, Brian's got to continue to play at his level
and Kyle [Orton] has to continue to develop, as well.''
Coach Lovie
Smith reiterated that Grossman is the starter but that everyone
needs to meet a certain performance level to maintain their jobs.
Griese, who had surgery to repair the ACL and MCL in his left
knee a little less than five months ago, will be ready to start
pushing Grossman by the time minicamp rolls around the first weekend
in June.
For the Bears,
the signing of the 31-year-old veteran to a five-year contract
-- worth between $14 million and $20 million, depending on playing-time
incentives -- signals the end of an arduous search.
"I told
Brian when he was here that approximately five quarterbacks told
us no,'' said Angelo, who swung and missed with Kurt Warner, Johnson
and Fiedler last March. "So we're used to hearing the word
'no.'
"We want
to make sure we get the right guy and that he fits what we're
doing, not just from a scheme standpoint but from a team philosophy,
as well. We felt very comfortable with Brian the player. That
was never in question. After he left here, he wanted some time
to think about it, and we encouraged him to do that because we
want to make sure he feels real good about our situation and our
team, and he felt very comfortable with it.''
Angelo bumped
into Grossman in the hallway at Halas Hall and informed him of
the team's intentions before the signing. He said Grossman was
on board but conceded that Orton "won't be the happiest guy.''
But anyone who has been around for a while knows if the position
hasn't been the team's No. 1 problem, it has been a close second
for some time.
"This
ought to make the media really happy,'' Pro Bowl middle linebacker
Brian Urlacher said. "They've been harping on us to get a
backup quarterback the last few years. I think it's great. Brian's
a proven guy, and he's been around for a while.
"Hopefully
he won't get on the field. Hopefully we can keep Rex out there.
But if he does get on the field, he's proven what he can do.''
Griese admitted
he's somewhat surprised to be joining his fourth team and said
offensive coordinator Ron Turner's three-hour visit with him at
Griese's home in Florida helped seal the deal. He also had visited
Cincinnati, where Carson Palmer is more entrenched as the starter
than Grossman.
"What
we're getting right now is the best Brian Griese we possibly can,''
Smith said. "He chose us. We're just excited.''
bbiggs@suntimes.com
Copyright
2006, Digital Chicago Inc.
