Brian Griese

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Template:Infobox NFLactive Brian David Griese (pronounced /GREE-see/) (born March 18 1975 in Miami, Florida) is an American football quarterback for the Chicago Bears of the NFL. He is the son of former NFL great Bob Griese of the Miami Dolphins. They wrote a book together, Undefeated (ISBN 0-7852-7021-3), published in 2000 about their lives through their undefeated seasons and living through the breast cancer illness and death of Brian's mother and Bob's first wife, Judi.

1 High school years
2 College career
3 Professional career
4 Personal life
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

High school years

Griese attended Christopher Columbus High School in Miami, Florida and played football, basketball, and golf. In football, he won All-State third team honors as a senior.

College career

Griese played college football at the University of Michigan from 1993 to 1997. Michigan did not offer him a scholarship, so he walked on to the football team. After he was redshirted in 1993 and limited to placeholding duties in 1994, Griese took over as the starting quarterback after Scott Dreisbach was injured five games into the 1995 season. Griese started for the remainder of the 1995 season, capped by an upset of #2 ranked Ohio State, 31-23.

At the beginning of the 1996 season, Dreisbach regained his starting job and Griese returned to the bench, serving as the team's pooch punter. However, after Dreisbach struggled, Griese replaced him at halftime against Ohio State, where he led the Wolverines to another upset victory over the Buckeyes, 13-9. Griese finished the season starting in a 17-14 loss to Alabama in the Outback Bowl.

In 1997, Griese remained the starter. Along with Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson, he led the Wolverines to an undefeated season and a share of the national championship. Griese was selected as the MVP of the Rose Bowl, passing for 251 yards and three touchdowns in Michigan's win over Washington State.

In his Michigan career, Griese had a 17-5 record as a starter. The Wolverines won all three games against Ohio State in which he quarterbacked. Griese was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and received his bachelor's degree in an individualized concentration from Michigan in 1997.

Professional career

The Denver Broncos selected Griese in the third round of the 1998 NFL Draft. He began his career as a third-string back up to Bubby Brister and John Elway. He became a Super Bowl champion in 1998, though he spent most of the season on the sidelines. Following Elway's retirement in 1999, Griese became the Bronco's starting quarterback. Griese earned a 75.6 passer rating during his first season as starter, but improved the year later by raising it to 102.9. His efforts merited him an invite to the 2000 Pro Bowl.

Griese has consistently completed a high percentage of his passes. He has had four seasons with a better than 64% completion rate, including one year (2004) when he completed 69.3% of his passes. Nevertheless, he has yet to establish himself as one of the elite quarterbacks of the league, due to injuries, subpar arm strength and a penchant for interceptions. At Denver, he was released and replaced with former Cardinals starter Jake Plummer. He was later signed to the Miami Dolphins and then to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His stint with the Dolphins, where his father Bob Griese was a legend, was brief. Griese was given the starting job when the Dolphins starting quarterback Jay Fiedler got injured. Griese had an excellent start as a Dolphin, passing for 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions in a blowout victory against San Diego. But he was less impressive in later games which was caused by a lack of pass protection and a weak offensive line and was benched for more mobile Jay Fiedler, who himself would later lose the job.

He was able to perform well for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and provided a catalyst for the jumpstart of the Tampa offense. Griese helped them to their only victories in 2004 with a 97.5 QB rating and to a 5-1 record in 2005 before succumbing to a torn ACL. Griese was cut by the Buccaneers in 2006 after his injury to his knee in order to free up money for the salary cap. On March 21 2006, he signed a five year contract with the Chicago Bears.

After signing with the Bears, Griese saw limited action. Though he fared better than Rex Grossman during the 2006 Pre-Season, coach Lovie Smith decided to keep Griese as the Bears’ second string quarterback. He took late fourth quarter snaps at the end of major victories. Though Grossman started every Bears game in the 2006 season, Smith allowed Griese some extended gametime during week fifteen, after the Bears had clinched home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. In a game against the Detroit Lions, Griese completed six of nine passes for 51 yards, which set up several game-winning Robbie Gould field goals. Smith called on Griese to relieve a struggling Grossman for the second half of the final regular season game against the Green Bay Packers. However, Griese did not fare a lot better, completing 5 of 15 passes for 124 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. While some Chicagoans questioned Grossman’s ability to lead the Bears to the Super Bowl, Smith stood by Grossman, and declared him the team's starter throughout the playoffs. The Bears went on to win the 2006 NFC Championship, but lose Super Bowl XLI to the Indianapolis Colts.

After Grossman struggled during the first three outing of the 2007 Chicago Bears season, Smith turned to Griese to lead the team.[1] In his first outing as a Bears starter, Griese threw two touchdowns and three interceptions in a losing effort against the Detroit Lions.[2] The next week, he lead the Bears to a game winning drive against the Philadelphia Eagles. Griese lost the starting job to Grossman after sustaining an injury against the Oakland Raiders during week ten.[3] Ironically, Griese replaced Grossman again later in the season, after Grossman sustained a knee injury against the Washington Redskins.[4]

Personal life

Brian Griese is founder and board president of Judi's House, a children's grief support center in Denver, Colorado. Brian's mother, Judi Griese, succumbed to breast cancer when Brian was 12. The grieving process was hard for Brian, and so he established Judi's House to serve grieving children in the Denver area. He continues to maintain close ties with the facility, despite the frequent moves dictated by his professional football career.

Griese married Brook McClintic, a clinical psychologist, in the Spring of 2004 on the island of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The couple met while Griese was playing for the Denver Broncos. On April 6th, 2006 Brian and Brook had their first child, a baby girl they named Annalia Rose.