>>I hope someone knocks through the cockiness of youth and convinces him this is his chance and a second chance is not guaranteed.
>
>Isn't the youthful cockiness what makes him a good QB though? I don't watch a lot of Bears games (this is Vikings country), but don't you think his down-the-field no limit throwing style is what makes them a good team, and is a result of his cockiness?
>
>I'd trade him for Brad Johnson any day of the week.

I already replied to your other message on the same topic but will respond to the youthful cockiness part. It's funny because I had a similar conversation with a coworker, who I discovered I am the last to know was a lineman at Wake Forest. He said we need that deep threat, so deal with it. Yes, the Bears do need the deep threat, but it isn't ordained that it has to be accompanied by bad decisions and bad throws. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady are deep threats but you don't see them throwing it up for grabs when they feel pressure. Rex has done that again and again this year and it has hurt the team.

Is it unfair to compare him to Manning and Brady? Sure. They are the best of their generation and Rex hasn't even started 20 games yet. Still, at a similar point in their careers they knew better than to do some of the things he does out of "cockiness."

Probably a more appropriate comparison is Brett Favre. He may be my favorite NFL player ever, along with Joe Namath, Jerry Rice, and Brian Urlacher. He came into the league a gunslinger and has never lost faith that he can thread a 40 yard pass through the eye of a needle and two or three defenders. The difference is Favre has a gun of an arm -- a gifted arm even among NFL quarterbacks -- in addition to the unshakeable confidence in himself. Rex's arm is good but it isn't good enough to get him out of some of his bad decisions. And he definitely doesn't have Favre-like confidence yet. There is a difference between cockiness and confidence. Sometimes he still looks like Bambi out there, and I don't mean Lance Alworth.