Bears, Grossman likely done for the season
LANDOVER, Md. -- Anyone who ordered the NFL Network a week earlier to watch the classic confrontation between the Cowboys and Packers probably canceled a week later.
That's because they had to endure watching the Bears and Redskins stumble through an exercise in offensive ineptitude in the first half Thursday night at FedEx Field.
While the Redskins eventually got their attack untracked, the Bears struggled throughout in a 24-16 loss that left them at 5-8 and a non-factor in the playoff picture. The Redskins improved to 6-7, keeping faint postseason hopes alive.
Maybe worse than the loss for the Bears was the knee injury that ended quarterback Rex Grossman's evening, probably his season and maybe his Bears career after less than five minutes of play.
"It didn't look good," Bears coach Lovie Smith said of Grossman's injury as well as the ankle injury to backup defensive tackle Antonio Garay. "Both have serious lower-leg injuries that could take a while (to heal)."
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On the Bears' second possession, Grossman was hit low by Redskins tackle Cornelius Griffin. After laying on the ground for a minute, the Bears QB limped slowly off the field and into the locker room.
Griffin hit Grossman below the knee from the outside bending his knee inward at a grotesquely unnatural angle just after he released a pass intended for Desmond Clark.
With Grossman scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent after the season, the timing of the injury couldn't be worse for him.
"It's really tough to see Rex get hurt like that," wide receiver Bernard Berrian said, "because he's been through so many injuries before."
Grossman played all 16 regular-season games last year plus three in the postseason but all three of his previous NFL seasons ended with injury.
Redskins starting quarterback Jason Campbell (dislocated knee cap) was also gone before halftime.
After falling behind 14-0, the Bears made a belated and inconsistent charge behind backup quarterback Brian Griese, but the Redskins flourished behind their backup quarterback, Todd Collins.
Collins, who hadn't thrown a pass in a regular-season NFL game since 2004, was nothing short of phenomenal, completing 15 of 20 passes for 224 yards, 2 touchdowns and a passer rating of 144.6. Griese was 25-for-47 for 295 yards with 1 TD but was picked off twice and had a 68.3 passer rating.
His 16-yard TD pass to running back LaDell Betts with 2:41 left upped their lead to 24-13 and clinched it for the Redskins.
"We stopped the run fairly well," said Smith of the best effort of the season (31 yards on 24 attempts). "But the big pass plays ... when a team goes to its second quarterback, you assume that you can shut down the pass a little bit."
Despite a potpourri of penalties, missed blocks, miscommunication and a lack of execution, the Bears crept to within 14-10 with 3:23 left in the third quarter when Bernard Berrian caught a 17-yard TD pass barely inside the back line of the end zone. Berrian was originally ruled out of bounds, but the call was reversed on the Bears' challenge.
Then they closed the gap to 17-13 on Robbie Gould's 22-yard field goal with 6:48 left, but they blew a chance to tie it after botching a first-and-goal from the 1-yard line. An ill-advised sweep by Adrian Peterson lost 3 yards before Brian Griese tried unsuccessfully -- twice in a row -- to connect with rookie tight end Greg Olsen.
"We had momentum there for a while," Smith said. "But they went down and put together another drive. They answered every time we felt like momentum had shifted our way a little bit."
Before the Bears' rally, Redskins running back Clinton Portis provided some much-needed excitement with a 54-yard run after catching a short pass, setting up Mike Sellers' 1-yard TD run, which gave the Redskins their 14-0 lead on the fifth play of the second half.
Later, Collins' 33-yard strike to tight end Chris Cooley set up Shaun Suisham's 23-yard field goal that put the Redskins ahead 17-10 with 11:52 remaining.
Until Redskins backup tight end Todd Yoder caught a 21-yard TD pass from Collins with 17 seconds left in the first half for the first points of the game, the "highlights" had been 3 missed field goals, 2 by the Redskins. By that time both starting quarterbacks were out of the game.
The Bears got a consolation 22-yard field goal from Gould with 30 seconds left, but their onside-kick attempt went out of bounds.