Don't get your hopes up with Grossman

We interrupt Super Bowl XLII week for this public service announcement:

Giants quarterback Eli Manning's successful run through the playoffs this season doesn't provide hope that Bears quarterback Rex Grossman will develop likewise next season.

Comparing the two is a way for Bears fans to maintain their sanity. The tendency is to reach for stretches when your team hasn't had a transcendent quarterback in more than a half-century.

But comparing Grossman to Manning is like comparing, say, a quarterback to an eye doctor.

(Coincidentally, the Manning family patriarch was a great NFL quarterback and the Grossman family patriarch played the position at Indiana University before becoming a great eye doctor.)

Anyway, the primary reason Manning and Grossman have been compared lately is the former is in this season's Super Bowl and the latter was in last season's.

Another reason is that both struggled to get to this point.

Otherwise, the differences between the two are more profound than the similarities.

Manning was the first overall pick in the 2004 NFL draft, and Grossman was No. 22 in 2003. The Giants traded up to get the player they liked; the Bears traded down to get the player they liked.

That right there will tell you that from the beginning, Manning was the more promising prospect even if promise isn't always an accurate barometer.

Another difference -- and this is a big one, so to speak -- is that at 6-feet-4 Manning is at least three inches taller than Grossman.

I'll stick to what I concluded early this season: A quarterback can be short or slow but not short and slow like Grossman is.

It would be nice to think Manning's development means Grossman will also develop. There's no connection, however.

Wait, maybe there is a connection, but only if Manning crashes next season.

Steve Politi wrote Monday in the Newark Star-Ledger, "(Grossman) was a wildly inconsistent starter who took the Bears to the Super Bowl last season, and early this season (he) became a wildly inconsistent backup quarterback."

What the author is saying is there's a chance Manning will regress to where he and Grossman were not long ago.

Grossman progressing to where Manning has been this month? No, sorry, I don't think so.

Think back to last year. The widespread perception was the Bears reached the Super Bowl in spite of Grossman and would lose to the Colts because of him.

This year the widespread perception is Manning's sudden maturity led the Giants to the Super Bowl and gives them a chance to beat the Patriots.

Manning did something extraordinary in these playoffs while quarterbacking the Giants to 3 victories, all on the road. Against Tampa Bay, Dallas and Green Bay -- in all sorts of climates -- Manning threw no interceptions in 85 attempts.

Now ask yourself this: Has Grossman ever thrown 85 passes without an interception, much less against playoff competition?

None of this is to say Grossman can't become a serviceable NFL quarterback and maybe even return to the Super Bowl.

Nor is it to say Manning is going to live up to his pedigree and become a terrific NFL quarterback like his father Archie and brother Peyton.

What it does say is Eli's upside is stratospheres higher than Grossman's.

Now back to your regularly scheduled Super Bowl week.