Briggs gives Rex pass for a day

Christmas came early for Rex Grossman Monday at 3 a.m. when Lance Briggs misplaced his Lamborghini.

In the time it takes to snap a football, Grossman was bumped off the front page, and Briggs fumbled away some of the goodwill he earned by coming into camp in great shape after his contract holdout, and playing terrific football the last couple weeks.

For a day, there was no talk of Grossman's butchered snaps or INTs returned for TDs, no concerns about his erratic play, no criticism of his frequent mental lapses.

There weren't even any gripes about the cruel media and how the press can't take the bad (Rex) with the good (Rex).

There were no calls for the fans to do a better job understanding the complexities of the center snap -- a common practice in peewee football -- or to refrain from booing when Grossman throws to the wrong team if there's a hint of physical or mental pressure.

But then, we were talking about Briggs, weren't we?

Well, you certainly can't blame Grossman for Briggs' bad morning, nor can you blame GM Jerry Angelo or head coach Lovie Smith for Briggs' trip to the body shop.

Surprisingly, there's not even a way to slap any of this on Michael McCaskey.

And, no, this has nothing to do with Tank Johnson in any way, shape or bad form.

Yes, the Bears have had their share of late-night incidents the past few years, but there's no overwhelming organizational pattern here that suggests they're encouraging or enabling their players to misbehave.

True, they blew it with Johnson by failing to follow up on threats that proved empty, but this is a separate matter and Briggs -- as far as we know -- has no history of making these kinds of mistakes.

He made one here by leaving the scene of an accident, which only raised suspicion that there might have been other factors at play.

Assuming we've heard the worst of it, and he wasn't drinking, racing or endangering others, it's a mere bump in the road.

If he does the same thing again, gets into trouble at 3 a.m., then you can blame the Bears for failing to properly deliver the message, especially since Smith says he specifically told Briggs not to get caught out at that hour again.

"We definitely don't want our players out (at that time of night) when he was out,'' Smith told Jeff Joniak on WBBM 780-AM Monday night. "Hopefully, he'll be home earlier next time.''

On the field, Briggs has been the Bears' best defensive player in August and should be a force once the real games begin, and if he doesn't repeat his overnight difficulties, this incident won't hurt him on the free-agent market next spring.

Meanwhile, the suggestion that this will become a distraction for the Bears is humorous on several levels.

After all, Tank Johnson was as much of a genuine distraction and the Bears went to the Super Bowl, dragging Tank along, all the way to Miami.

As long as Briggs is healthy and able to play, the players won't give a spit and there's no distraction at all.

If anything, it gives them a chance to blame the fans and media for asking questions or requesting answers, and even a rallying point if Smith decides to use it as such.

No, Briggs should be fine and the defense will be superb, and that will give Grossman a chance to be the focal point again.

Oh, yeah, almost forgot about that Grossman guy.

The Briggs saga has to be nice for him.

While it lasts.