We all pay a high price for watching Bears QBs

Well, this explains the increase in Bears ticket prices.

The Bears need cash to pay quarterback Rex Grossman.

The ticket e-mail sounded coldbloodedly matter-of-fact when it arrived the other day.

"Bears announce ticket price increase," the press release's headline read.

Then it added without a hint of remorse that nonclub seats would go up $3 to $4 and club seats would go up $10.

Finally, sort of gloating, it boasted that nonclub seats now range from $68 to $108

My goodness, how could I have forgotten that the Bears won last season's Super Bowl?

Oh, they didn't? They missed the playoffs at 7-9? And now there seems to be no interest in a significant move at quarterback?

Grossman's return signals that neither Donovan McNabb nor any other quality veteran is coming and there won't be a move up to get the draft's best available quarterback?

Anyway, the one-year deal Grossman agreed to Saturday isn't too pricey compared to what real NFL starting QBs get. But he was paid $2.035 million in 2007, will get a guaranteed $3 million this season, and could earn a total of $5 million with incentives.

If I sound cynical and skeptical about Grossman, maybe it's because I am.

I mean, these are the Bears, we're talking quarterbacks, and the two never inspire confidence.

Sure, I think the Bears did the wrong thing by bringing Grossman back. But to be honest, I probably would have ripped them for letting him go.

Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith must understand that they and anybody else operating the Bears are presumed wrong about quarterbacks until proven right.

It seems like Angelo and Smith have been in Chicago forever but in fact it has been a relative fumbled snap in a sea of three-and-outs.

Meanwhile, the rest of us have lived through a decade, two decades, four decades, six decades of Bears quarterbacks.

So Angelo and Smith can't win when they talk about Grossman. They can't be correct. They can't be serious.

We have heard it all before and been disappointed repeatedly.

The Grossman re-signing brought visions of Gary Huff, Bob Avellini and all the other flawed young quarterbacks and the failed old ones and the unfulfilled promises and the unrequited quarterback love.

They're visions of all the other has-beens and never-weres who tried for nearly 60 years to succeed Sid Luckman as the Bears' next great quarterback.

So Angelo might as well be George Halas trying to sell us Virgil Carter and Smith might as well be Jim Dooley trying to salvage Bobby Douglass.

Last season Grossman slumped enough to be benched. Backup Brian Griese was bad enough for Grossman to resurface long enough to get hurt. Kyle Orton was bland enough to be cheered for not being either of them.

Naturally, Grossman's uneven performance was more than enough to earn another season of a fan's money, time and gasps.

Grossman's career 19-11 regular-season record as a starter helps his case if you believe it was due to a mediocre touchdown-interception ratio, completion percentage and passer rating.

Listen, I still believe Grossman is too short and too slow, and that he doesn't make plays out of the pocket, and that he doesn't create something from nothing when the designed play breaks down.

But who am I to say?

You know, other than someone who has watched Bears quarterbacks stumble, bumble and fumble for most of my life.