Halfway through a brutal performance against one of the worst teams in NFL history, the unthinkable happened. Chicago Bears Quarterback Kyle Orton, who has brought a degree of stability to the position unseen in this decade, was carted off the field with ankle injury.

Enter Rex Grossman.

Nothing scares Chicago Bear fans more than an appearance by #8.  Between the fumbled snaps, the bad reads and the awful picks, Grossman has never endeared himself to fans, even though he led the Bears to the Super Bowl in 2007.  His performance in that game goes a long way to understanding why fans loathe him so much.

Rex Grossman has always been a below average quarterback.  From his days at Florida when he drove Steve Spurrier and Ron Zook crazy with his ill advised passes into traffic to his days with the Bears where dropping a snap seemed routine, Grossman was over rated coming out of college as a first round draft pick.  Okay, he's better than Cade McKnown or Rick Meier, but still, the guy has never lived up to whatever hype he's gotten from the so called experts.

Grossman makes up for his lack of decision making with charisma.  Here's a guy who talked himself on to the squad at Florida by begging Steve Spurrier for a chance.   He never gave up, finally beating the coach down and getting on as first a walk on and then a scholarship player.

Players like him.  He's enthusiastic and plays the game with reckless abandon, which leads us to why he's such a headache.  Unlike Brett Favre who has made a living as a gun slinger, Grossman is a drug store cowboy.  Favre has the football savvy and usually the talent around him to make something happen.  Grossman tries to force something to happen and is unsuccessful a lot of the time.

I can see Rex Grossman having a successful career as Tony Romo's backup.  But in a run dependent Bear offense where quick, timing passes and the ability to hit the slant instead of throw the bomb are key, Grossman fits in like Sarah Palin at a Mensa meeting. 

The Bears have two huge games coming against Tennessee and Green Bay.  Both teams have aggressive defenses and the Packers, in particular, have a defensive backfield that drools at the prospect of being pitted against Grossman.  The only way Rex is going to survive these games is to hand the ball off to Matt Forte every chance he gets. 

The Bears are at an important crossroads in their season.  The Packers are clearly the class of the division and the Bears will have to find some wins in places they didn't expect to be able to make the playoffs.  Indy and Philly were good starts, but Tennessee and Green Bay would go a long way to making sure that come January there's still games left to play.

Kyle Orton gave you the confidence to believe that maybe this would be the year the Bears would beat the odds and sneak into the playoffs when no one thought they would.  Rex Grossman gives you the confidence to make other plans.