Because of a better body of work in the NFL, Peyton Manning avoids the constant criticism that plagues Rex Grossman. Al Tielemans/SI

But OK, Rex. We'll give you points for approaching candor when it comes to your Jekyll and Hyde-like season, and for knowing you've given your critics far too much fodder to work with, like those five games this season when your passer rating was 36.8 or below.

"[The criticism has] bothered me at times,'' Grossman said. "But it's really just a part of it. It's a situation where I've played bad and people are going to say negative things. I just didn't realize the exaggeration either way that comes with it.''

Which you can file under the heading of quarterbacks getting too much credit in victory and too much blame in defeat, a axiom that seems to become even more prevalent every year in the pressurized world that NFL quarterbacks operate in.

To his credit, Grossman on Monday seemed to get it. When one reporter tried to feed him a softball, asking him why Tom Brady and Peyton Manning don't get near as much criticism when they throw interceptions in the playoffs, as they both did this month, the Bears quarterback made the perfect point in rebuttal.

It's all about track record, as Grossman quickly noted.

"I've become somewhat numb to the criticism, but every quarterback makes mistakes,'' he said. "Those two quarterbacks have played so well and so consistently for a long period of time that if they throw a bad interception, they get a free pass. Everyone's willing to do that. I'm willing to do that.

"Until I start to play well for a long period of time, [I don't get that]. It's easier to really criticize someone and come down on them if you don't have anything to go on previously. In my situation, every single pass, I was judged completely as a quarterback. If I threw a great pass, I was a great quarterback. If I threw an interception, I'm a bad quarterback. Just give me some more time to fully evaluate it.''

In Lovie Smith, Grossman has the perfect coach for that request, because I don't know how many head coaches would have shown the same amount of faith in him when the entire football world was expecting to see Bears backup quarterback Brian Griese at any moment in December.

But Smith wouldn't blink, believing the Bears had to find out what they had in their 2003 first-round draft choice, who due to either inexperience or injury was playing just his first full season as a starter in 2006. Smith continued to stick with Grossman through some of the ugliest passing performances since the days of leather helmets, and his QB wasn't soon going to forget it.

"I wasn't really surprised [he stayed with me], but I'm glad he did,'' Grossman said. "Lovie's a great guy and he's got a lot of confidence in me. That didn't waver because fans booed, or the media wrote whatever they wanted to write. I'm just thankful that I'm playing for a coach with strong character in what he believes in. Even if you may not be playing up to your best, he knows eventually you're going to snap out of it and be a great quarterback, and that's what he's told me all year.''

He may be in the Super Bowl, but it's far from crazy to suggest Grossman has yet to definitively prove he's the franchise in Chicago, the way Brady is in New England and Manning is in Indy. He's playing in the ultimate game, but we don't know the ultimate outcome of the Bears' quarterback situation. For a team that hasn't been able to find a long-term solution at the game's most pivotal position since Sid Luckman left town, Grossman's next outing is always his most important.

Would a win on Sunday against the Colts take care of the questions once and for all, I asked Grossman?

"Yeah, I would hope a world championship would do that,'' he said, a slight smile crossing his lips. "That was my goal when I was drafted, to win a world championship in Chicago and be a franchise quarterback, be a quarterback in Chicago for a long time.''

We'll see, Rex. We'll see. It's only Monday. But so far, so good.

Don Banks covers pro football for SI.com.