Chicago sidesteps talk of QB controversy

During Brian Griese’s first news conference as a touchdown-throwing member of the Chicago Bears, he stopped to tease one onlooker for being overdressed for an exhibition and tweaked another for asking about a quarterback controversy.

His performance – one of efficiency on the field and humor off of it – was so smooth, one wondered if Griese broke a sweat. If he didn’t, Rex Grossman surely did.

Grossman’s erratic performance Friday night in San Francisco may not have created a quarterback controversy, as coach Lovie Smith so emphatically stated, but it certainly created quarterback intrigue.

“Rex is our starting quarterback,” Smith said. “This is one game.”

As Grossman defiantly and disgustedly vowed to put his wild, 3-for-11 performance behind him, Griese seemed to savor the moment. That makes sense for a nine-year veteran playing his first game since tearing left knee ligaments last October.

Griese connected on 6 of 7 passes for 134 yards, two touchdowns and a perfect passer rating of 158.3.

If this continues, Griese won’t just compete against opponents. He will be competing for snaps against Grossman.

Rice aims to retire a 49er

Jerry Rice and the San Francisco 49ers appear close to completing plans to allow the receiving great to return to the team for a day and formally retire as a 49er, team officials said.

A date for Rice’s symbolic one-day signing hasn’t been chosen, though the sides are looking at holding the ceremony during the week of Aug. 20.

Rice became the NFL’s all-time leading receiver during a 20-year career. He spent the first 16 years with the 49ers, helping the team win three of its five Super Bowls. Rice finished his career with the Raiders and Seattle, retiring a year ago after trying out for the Denver Broncos.

Cutler does well in debut

Jay Cutler made a nice first impression, not that it will allow him to unseat Jake Plummer anytime soon.

The 11th pick in the draft, out of Vanderbilt, was 16 of 22 for 192 yards and a TD in Denver’s 20-13 loss at Detroit in its exhibition opener Friday night.

“I felt relaxed, things went well for me,” Cutler said. “You’d like to win the game, but I played well and didn’t make any mistakes and I’m pretty happy so far.”

Broncos coach Mike Shanahan was reserved in his praise for his rookie QB.

“He played well, executed the offense,” Shanahan said. “Both teams were very vanilla in their approach, so you don’t get too excited. But a guy’s got to go out there and perform and I thought he showed a lot of poise and did an excellent job.”

Colts try to get healthy

The Indianapolis Colts are starting to get some of their injured players back.

Defensive end Jonathan Welsh, who was on the physically-unable-to-perform list since training camp opened July 31, practiced for the first time since having surgery on his left knee last year.

Starting safety Mike Doss also returned after sitting out nearly two weeks. But three-time Pro Bowl defensive end Dwight Freeney (sore shoulder) and former Pro Bowl defensive tackle Corey Simon (knee) were still missing.

While coach Tony Dungy expects more players to return next week, he hasn’t said how much time Freeney and Simon could miss.