Bucs QB Griese won't bash Bears
The Bears signed quarterback Brian Griese as a free agent in 2006 because they weren't confident Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton could get the job done.
After Griese started just six games in two seasons, the Bears reverted to Plan A of hoping Orton or Grossman could still become a long-term solution. Fingers remain crossed two weeks into the 2008 campaign.
Griese, meanwhile, quickly landed a starting job and will lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers onto Soldier Field to take on the Bears this Sunday. Though last year's starter, Jeff Garcia, suffered an ankle injury in the season opener, Bucs coach John Gruden made it clear that Griese didn't become the starter by default.
"Brian has taken basically most of the starter's reps during training camp (while Garcia was out with a calf strain)," Gruden said during a conference call Wednesday with Chicago reporters. "And he's played well, to be honest with you. For that reason, we're going to continue to start him."
Griese hit 18 of 31 passes for 160 yards and no interceptions as Tampa Bay evened its record with a 24-9 win over visiting Atlanta last week.
When he joined Wednesday's conference call, Griese refused to bash the Bears. That's not surprising, since the 11th-year pro appears to be much better off with the Bucs.
"I don't have any ill will or hard feelings about how everything went down," Griese said. "I look back on my time in Chicago with fondness and I really appreciate all the relationships I made there. I just wish we could have had a little more success last year."
Griese's comments about the Bears mirrored the way he plays quarterback. He's known as a competent field general who is often steady, rarely spectacular. During his brief stint as the Bears' starter last season, Griese orchestrated impressive road wins against Green Bay and Philadelphia, but he tossed 7 interceptions in 2 losses to Detroit.
There was a bizarre episode after he led the Bears on a game-winning 93-yard drive to beat the Eagles. Following the game, Griese said the radio in his helmet stopped working, forcing him to call his own plays. A day later, Griese retracted the story and gave credit to offensive coordinator Ron Turner for plays signaled from the sideline.
To acquire Griese in March, Tampa Bay was asked to give up a sixth-round draft pick, while also getting a seventh-round pick from the Bears.
Griese posted the highest passer rating (97.5) in Buccaneers history during a 5-11 season in 2004. The following year, Griese led Tampa to a 5-1 start before being knocked out with an injury, which helps explain Gruden's comfort level in the second-generation quarterback, the son of Miami Dolphins legend Bob Griese.
"We already liked Brian," Gruden said. "We knew he was going to come in here and be a competitor and a guy we could count on to play."
Asked if his familiarity with the Bears will provide an advantage Sunday, Griese claimed the defensive schemes shown by the Bears during the first two games - crowding the line of scrimmage with linebackers on most every snap - were foreign to him.
"There may be some advantage in knowing the personnel," he said. "But to be totally honest with you, the way they're playing defense right now doesn't quite resemble what they played last year or the past two years, for that matter.
"They're doing a lot of things pressure-wise to confuse the quarterback. They had a scheme for (Colts quarterback) Peyton (Manning), a similar scheme in Carolina that worked really well for them and I expect to see more of it."