Super Bowl Hangover

A lot of people on a lot of chat boards in a lot of places are saying that Rex Grossman's performance in Super Bowl XLI was the Worst of All Time.†

And a lot of people are wrong.

The Colts had the ball for 81 plays in the Super Bowl, the Bears for 48. That's a huge disparity - but why did the Colts keep getting the ball back? Here's why:

Here's a list of all Bears 3rd downs for the offense.
3rd-3, CHI42 11:37 R. Grossman incomplete pass to the left
3rd-4, IND4 4:34 R. Grossman passed to M. Muhammad to the right for 4 yard touchdown.
3rd-6, CHI9 0:57 T. Jones rushed up the middle for 4 yard gain
3rd-6, CHI26 10:06 R. Grossman passed to R. Davis to the right for 2 yard gain
3rd-3, CHI43 4:50 T. Jones rushed to the right for 2 yard gain
3rd-12, CHI44 5:45 R. Grossman rushed up the middle for no gain. R. Grossman fumbled. R. Grossman recovered fumble
3rd-8, IND26 1:30 R. Grossman incomplete pass to the left
3rd-2, CHI28 10:44 R. Grossman passed to D. Clark down the middle for 11 yard gain
3rd-8, CHI48 5:32 R. Grossman passed to T. Jones to the left for 1 yard loss
3rd-3, CHI46 0:15 R. Grossman passed to D. Clark to the right for 18 yard gain

There were 8 passes on third down (I'm counting the fumble play, because in watching it I am convinced it was a designed pass play), and two called runs.

Let's say that 3 yards or less is a running down. There were four plays that fit that situation, and only once was a rush called. So three passes were called in run situations. If you assume that FOUR yards is the outside edge of a running play (not unreasonable - excluding the 52-yarder, Thomas Jones rushed 14 times for 60 yards, a 4.3 ypc average), then there were five such situations. Of those five, 4 plays were passes.

Of the passing situations, all were called passes except for a 3rd and 6 rushing play. I can live with that.

The problem is that the Bears couldn't convert on third down, and I put it to you that it's NOT because they gave up on the run. Up until the pick-six (and counting that pass) with 11:44 left in the fourth quarter, the Bears had called 14 RB rushes and 14 passes. They just didn't execute. They didn't call the right plays on third down to begin with (five third and shorts, four of them passes? That's moronic), and when they had the chance, they screwed it up.

In large measure, I blame the offensive coordinator for the Bears inability to sustain a drive, not Rex Grossman (BTW: Until the interception, Grossman was 9 for 13 for 75 yards and one TD, a QB rating of 109.5...after and including the first INT, he was 11 for 15, 90 yards, and 2 INTs, a rating of 48.6).

What I think, looking at the playcalling and the numbers, is that Grossman had so much weight put on his shoulders by the OC's bad play calls, and cracked under the pressure. He couldn't handle himself in a pressure situation like that, on that stage.

†: The worst Super Bowl performance of all time is probably Tony Eason, who went 0-6 and was yanked, making him the only starting Super Bowl QB never to complete a pass. Jim Kelly was awful in his third Super Bowl, and Neil O'Donnell single-handedly cost the Steelers their game against the Cowboys.