Bloodied and bandaged, Rex Grossman now seems baffled about his fight for the Bears' quarterback job.
Grossman started and completed 9 of 15 passes with one interception in a harried, sputtering quarter and a half before Kyle Orton led Chicago to a field goal during a crisp two-minute drill in the Bears' 29-26 overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday night.
Now he hopes this forgettable night won't matter so much in deciding who starts Chicago's opener Sept. 7 at Indianapolis.
"This will be my fifth year with this coaching staff. They've seen me for four years,"
Grossman said, with a cut below the bridge of his nose and a gauze wrap over his bruised throwing forearm.
"I think they should know"
about me, he said.
Chicago produced 82 yards, three first downs and no points in 23 plays with the sixth-year veteran. He was sacked once, pressured many more times. He committed one intentional-grounding penalty out of self-preservation.
Orton missed on his first two throws but finished 5-for-9 for 43 yards in two series at the end of the first half. Chicago gained 54 yards in 12 plays with the fourth-year veteran, who started last week at Kansas City and was 7-for-10 for 56 yards.
"I thought my decision-making was pretty good and we had some nice plays down field,"
Orton said.
Bears coach Lovie Smith said he'd like to settle on a starter as soon as possible, with two preseason games remaining.
"But we know a lot more,"
Smith said. "Things are becoming clearer and clearer."
When asked what might be clearer to him after going 13-for-23 for 118 yards with one touchdown and one interception in two preseason games, Grossman all but threw up his bandaged arm.
"I've been in the dark this whole time about how they are going about this,"
he said of a preseason that began with coaches flipping a coin to determine who would run the first-team in practices.
