Grossman Vows to Fix Fumble Issues

After fumbling two exchanges from center Olin Kreutz in Monday night’s preseason win over the Colts, quarterback Rex Grossman was adamant that the issue would be rectified.

“We’ll figure it out and we’ll iron it out,” Grossman said. “That’s what the preseason is for and I promise you it won’t be a problem.”

The first fumbled exchange came when Grossman pulled away too soon in a mix-up that was caused by crowd noise. Officials probably could have called a false start on the play. The second botched exchange occurred when the ball simply slipped through Grossman’s sweaty hands.

The Bears were fortunate to recover both fumbles Monday night, but coaches and players alike realize that they must eliminate those types of mistakes.

“We’ve got to get that cleaned up, and we will,” said offensive coordinator Ron Turner.

Turner said that the Bears work on the quarterback/center exchange constantly. “We can’t do it more than we do it,” he said. “We do it every day before practice and every day during practice. We’ve just got to keep working on it.”

Given the fact that Grossman also fumbled two snaps in the Bears’ Super Bowl loss to the Colts, Monday’s miscues conjured up an especially bad case of déjà vu.

“It’s unacceptable,” Kreutz said. “It’s what the preseason is for. I know there will be more scrutiny on it because it happened in the Super Bowl against the same team.

“But we’ll go back and work on it again. It’s frustrating, unacceptable. I don’t know how many other words I can use. We’ve just got to get better at it.”

While Kreutz told reporters that he has to “work on getting the ball back to [Grossman],” the quarterback took full responsibility for the second fumbled exchange Monday night. “The first one, that’s going to happen,” Grossman said. “They probably should have called a penalty on it. But the second one was my fault. It slipped out of my hands. It won’t be a problem and we’re on the same page with it.”

Before the botched exchanges, Grossman lost a fumble and threw an interception on the Bears’ first two possessions. Asked if the quarterback’s mistakes tend to come in bunches, Turner said: “Obviously it seemed like it [Monday], but I don’t think there’s anything to that.

“Rex has had a great camp. He played really well last week [in Houston]. Some of the things aren’t necessarily his fault. Everything’s put on the quarterback obviously. But we feel great about where he is right now. He’s playing really well and we’re excited about what he’s doing.”

Grossman actually threw the ball well against the Colts, completing 9 of 11 passes for 59 yards. He also scored on a 1-yard sneak to give the Bears a 10-7 lead midway through the second quarter. In two preseason games, he has now completed 17 of 21 passes for 109 yards. “I haven’t lost any [momentum] and I hope Chicago fans and everyone else hasn’t lost any,” Grossman said. “There were a couple plays that we’ll learn from and continue to improve.

“I’m a pretty optimistic guy and I still feel like just because I threw an interception in preseason doesn’t mean I haven’t had a great offseason and made progress. That will come about as we get more snaps and more series.”

Thanks to Larry Mayer