Chicago Bears fans will remember Rex Grossman primarily for turning the football over more often than not, causing many of us lifelong scarring. The fact he somehow managed to get to a Super Bowl is still baffling.
Having been backed up by an elite defense while in Chicago, Grossman learned to be comfortable with that reality, and he seems to think a current NFL quarterback would benefit from the same thing he once had.
“I love watching him play," Grossman told Arizona Cardinals insider Kyle Odegard when speaking about Kyler Murray. "I think he would be awesome on a great team. I’d like to see him have an unbelievable defense, to not have to put it all on his shoulders.”
Rex Grossman's take on Kyler Murray is a peek back at his own career with the Bears
First and foremost, Kyler Murray is a much better quarterback than Grossman ever was. That's not difficult to believe and it is certainly not a debate.
But, to speak on Murray as though he would benefit from some grand defense is just plain funny because that's exactly what Grossman benefited from for a long time. That's the bit of irony in this comment, but there's also some misguided tone here as well.
The Cardinals defense finished in the top half of the league in scoring last year, so to say Murray would benefit from an unbelievable defense sort of misses the point.
What quarterback wouldn't benefit from an unbelievable defense?
Also, Murray has shown his flaws as an NFL quarterback. He is, by no means, perfect. Is he more polished than Grossman ever was? Absolutely. But, is he a great quarterback? Not necessarily.
I suppose what I'm trying to get at is there are some layers to this take by Grossman. There's definitely a layer of irony and hilarity which could also double as a trigger for fans who had to watch the former Bears quarterback play some sick version of Russian Roulette every time he took a snap.
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But, there's also the layer that speaks to Murray already having a good enough defense and needing to play better, himself.
Shoot... had the Bears had a quarterback like Murray back in that Super Bowl, I'm not so sure Peyton Manning would've brought home the hardware.