QB decision not key issue

Sure, Lovie Smith still has to decide on a starting quarterback for Sunday's game at Seattle, but he also sounds like a coach prepared to make adjustments to a sputtering running game.

For now, Brian Griese's left shoulder injury is being called a sprain, and there's a good chance his condition could make the quarterback decision an easy one for Smith. Bears players who have been unable to finish games in the past have rarely played the following week.

"Whenever you don't finish the game, you are concerned about it," Smith said. "I don't know if (Griese) will practice Wednesday, if he'll be able to go this weekend or anything like that."

If Griese is healthy enough, the quarterback question becomes more interesting. "If he's cleared medically," Smith said of Griese, "he should be ready to go."

But Smith later backed off a tad, stopping short of promising the next start to Griese, who has started six games since Grossman was benched after the third game.

"If (Griese) is cleared medically," Smith said, "then we'll go from there."

The situation, for now, is as clear as mud.

"It's unclear who's going to start Sunday," admitted Smith, who said he doesn't have to make a decision until just before game time. "We finished with two guys that could play (vs. the Raiders), Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton, so that's really what we're dealing with right now."

Grossman has the momentum of a game-winning 59-yard TD pass and a passer rating of 109.8 at Oakland, the highest by a Bear since his 114.4 against the St. Louis Rams last Dec. 11.

"I like what Rex did in the game," Smith said. "Whenever you come in like that in a hostile environment and lead your team to a win, you have to take notice, and I definitely took notice.

"It showed that Rex has been paying attention. All of the players that you dress, you assume that they're ready to go in, and that's how it was with Rex.

"But Rex has prepared that way. You're disappointed when you're not the starter, but you have to prepare like you could end up coming in and playing, and that's what he's done, and I think that's what we saw from the way he played."

Whoever lines up at quarterback, he will be dealing with a running attack that hasn't done much to take the pressure off the passing game.

The Bears are 30th out of 32 teams in rushing yards with an average of 78.8 per game. They are dead last with an average gain of 3.0 yards per carry, and they remain the only team in the league without a run of at least 20 yards.

Cedric Benson is down to the same 3.0-yard average after a 29-carry effort Sunday produced just 76 yards, a 2.6-yard average and a long gain of 9 yards. That was against a Raiders team that has allowed as many yards per carry (4.8) as any team in the league. Only three teams have allowed more rushing yards per game than Oakland's 144.2.

Smith is growing impatient with the situation.

"We're not pleased with where our running game is right now," he said. "I know you guys (the media) are going to ask me about the yards per carry, and I'm going to say we need to improve that, too.

"But what I do like about the running game is the amount of carries (34) we had. That normally will put us in position to hit some big passing plays, which led to the win at the end of the football game."

But when a team averages just 3.0 yards per carry, it only has the luxury of running the ball 34 times when its defense is dominating the opponent as the Bears did in Oakland. The Bears might be able to continue to get 3.0 yards per carry from Benson, but only as long as their defense allows just 6 points a game.

So how about more carries for backup Adrian Peterson?

"Whenever you dress three running backs, you assume that you could use all three of them," Smith said. "They all do some good things. We're not pleased with our running game. We need to make improvement with it -- Adrian, Cedric and Garrett (Wolfe) also."

It's difficult to blame Peterson, who's averaging 4.4 yards but has just 1 more carry all season than Benson got at Oakland. Wolfe lost 4 yards on his only carry and has rushed just six times all season for a total of 2 yards.