August 21, 2007

McMahon: Grossman has tools, weapons
Bears' QB shouldn't try to do it himself

Fred Mitchell

LAKE GENEVA, Wis. -- Jim McMahon's advice for Rex Grossman is as crisp and succinct as a well-executed play-action pass:

"You have to let your guys play," the Bears' Super Bowl XX quarterback said.

McMahon set 71 NCAA passing records at Brigham Young, but the punky QB found himself having to scale back his pass-happy approach because of a more conservative game plan with the Bears in the 1980s.

"The Bears now get to throw the ball a lot more than we did," McMahon said during his annual Barefoot Open charity golf tournament at Grand Geneva over the weekend.

McMahon celebrates his 48th birthday on Tuesday. His event benefits research for Neuroblastoma, a pediatric cancer that in 2004 claimed the life of 6-year-old Michael Wilkins, the son of McMahon's friend Todd Wilkins.

"Grossman came from Florida and they threw the ball all the time; I came from Brigham Young and we used to throw the ball all the time. I had to hand it off all the time with the Bears, but giving it to [Walter Payton] was always good," McMahon said.

Grossman doesn't have a Walter Payton in his backfield, but he does have viable options to deploy in Cedric Benson, Devin Hester, Bernard Berrian, Muhsin Muhammad, Desmond Clark, Rashied Davis and others. Grossman put up some credible passing numbers last season, throwing 23 touchdown passes. But he had 20 interceptions and lost five fumbles.

"The Bears are pretty solid all around. You don't make mistakes, you don't turn the football over ... you shouldn't get beat," McMahon said. "The ball is always in [Grossman's] hands. It was always in his hands in college. He should know what he is doing with it. I don't know what else I can tell the kid."

Overheard

Former Pro Bowl outside linebacker Otis Wilson can empathize with current outside linebacker Lance Briggs, and not just because Briggs wears No. 55, as did Wilson.

Both men have been overshadowed by Hall of Fame-caliber middle linebackers. Mike Singletary received most of the attention while Wilson patrolled his territory, as Briggs now toils in the shadow of Brian Urlacher.

"Briggs is a great individual and a good football player," Wilson said. "Everybody talks about Brian. It's just like everybody talked about Singletary when I was there. But I really like those other two guys (Briggs and Hunter Hillenmeyer) because when [the opponents] are running away from Brian, they have to run into Briggs. Just like when they were running away from [Singletary], they had to run to me. So I like the linebacker cast."

Wilson also understands Briggs' contract dispute with the Bears -- he had a franchise tag placed on him, which means a salary of $7.2 million. Briggs finally agreed to a one-year deal for that amount and will become a free agent at the end of this season.

"If I was playing today, I probably would get double that money," Wilson said. "Players are making crazy money, I mean, God bless 'em. I went through two [player] strikes during my career (in 1982 and '87). We are pioneers. Things like that happen when the situation changes. You have to take advantage of it."

Wilson's son Quincy is a running back in the Cincinnati Bengals' training camp.

"I tell my son: 'Where else can you go and play a game six months out of the year and make that kind of money?'" Wilson said. "You go into corporate America and it would take you 20 years, and that's if they [hire] you.

"Briggs made the right choice, because there is no way you can leave that kind of money on the table. We all understand the situation, having been a player. Maybe the public doesn't understand about $7 million being on the table. But they don't understand that if he was a free agent, he might have got $20 million. Timing is everything."

Sights seen

James "Robocop" Thornton, a tight end drafted by the Bears in the fourth round out of Cal State-Fullerton in 1988, won the long drive competition (273 yards) in the rain at Grand Geneva on Saturday.

Thornton said he is impressed with what he has seen from this year's first-round pick, tight end Greg Olsen.

"He seems to have good instincts and great hands," Thornton said. "The Bears throw the ball to the tight end a lot more than when I played. It's all a matter of philosophy. Back then under Mike Ditka, the tight end for the Bears was more of a glorified guard."