LAKE FOREST, Ill. - Chicago Bears quarterback Rex Grossman smiled and pleaded guilty in front of a roomful of reporters who came at him toting juicy quotes gleaned from a conference call with Minnesota Vikings strong safety Darren Sharper.
Sharper was right, Grossman admitted. After throwing that 24-yard touchdown pass to beat the Vikings 19-16 at the Metrodome on Sept. 24, Grossman let loose with the mother of all trash-talking outbursts. Or at least the best one he's ever unleashed.
"I probably said some things that I regret, but the whole game, (some of) their DBs were talking to me, just really getting under my skin a little bit, probably more than I should have allowed it to," said Grossman, whose 9-2 Bears face the 5-6 Vikings on Sunday at Soldier Field. "But they were just yapping the whole game."
Asked if Sharper was maybe stretching the truth when he said, "I've never had a quarterback say the things he said, and I've been playing 10 years," Grossman again smiled, and, well, he sure looked guilty as charged.
"I was angry, and I was really in the moment," Grossman said. "I should have probably held back a little bit."
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Grossman apologized to Sharper and said the trash talking wasn't intended for him. Free safety Dwight Smith, whom Grossman said talked non-stop and even slapped him on the back of the helmet following Antoine Winfield's interception return for a touchdown, was the target. But Smith walked away as Sharper was walking toward Grossman.
"I think you guys in this room, at least most of you, know me and know that I'm not that type of guy," Grossman said to the reporters gathered at Halas Hall. "But in that situation I was that type of guy. I'm sorry, Darren Sharper. He's a great player. He's a Pro Bowl player and been around a long time. If I offended him, I apologize."
Grossman wouldn't say what he said. During the conference call, Sharper would only say that it was "X-rated." Later, at Winter Park, he said Grossman "was kind of just beating his chest and talking trash. This and that. 'You guys are this,' whatever, whatever. Some curse words, stuff like that. He might have been caught up in the moment. The thing about it is you always get another chance to see him, and our chance to go against him again will be this Sunday."
Grossman said there's already enough incentive on both sides to think that this will affect the game. For instance, the Bears can clinch the NFC North division with a victory.
Later, in front of his locker, Grossman indicated that while he might have crossed the line, Smith did, too. He said he's never seen a defensive player talk more trash than Smith did in that game.
"It was the whole game with Dwight," Grossman said. "And I thought it was kind of unnecessary, like coming across the line of scrimmage while I'm trying to get the play and just being obnoxious the whole game. And coming up and smacking my helmet after the interception.
"After all of that, and to make a play to put us up like that late in the game, it was something I just had to get off my chest."
Meanwhile, at Winter Park, Smith played dumb.
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Asked if he remembered trash talking with Grossman, he said, "Nah. . . . I heard that he said that. I don't remember any of that."
Smith then said none of this will serve to motivate him on Sunday.
"I'm the oldest of nine," he said. "That's enough motivation for me."
Bears center Olin Kreutz, who last year busted a teammate's jaw during a skirmish, seemed amused the hot topic of the day was Sharper complaining about trash talking and suggesting it is motivation for the Vikings.
"That's the problem with the NFL," Kreutz said. "Everybody always issues threats through the media. No one ever really does anything about it. . . .
If you're going to talk tough, I mean, go fight somebody."
