Brian Griese was the lone light spot in the Bears preseason opener against the 49ers Friday night, throwing for 134 yards and two touchdowns. His heroics in the meaningless game weren’t enough as the Bears fell, 28 – 14.
Fragile starting QB Rex Grossman started the game and went uninjured. This was his only highlight. Grossman completed just 3 of 11 passes for 47 yards and handed the San Francisco defense a gift when his fumble which was returned for touchdown.
The Bears defense was just as bad as Grossman. The front four applied little pressure to 49ers quarterback Alex Smith who took advantage, shredding the Bears secondary for 137 yards in just over a quarter.
After the game, Bears head coach Lovie Smith became annoyed by the repeated questions surrounding the possible quarterback shakeup, threatening reporters with the meanest thing he could think of.
“I’m not going to answer anymore questions about a quarterback controversy,” said an outraged Smith, who rarely shows emotion. “Any more of this and I’ll just put Kyle Orton in there for the rest of the season. That way no one will be happy.”
Number of the Night: 1
Preseason games won by the 1985 Bears.
