Originally published November 17, 2006

The clock was ticking all summer for Rex Grossman.

Drafted in 2003 to give the Chicago Bears some much-needed production and poise at the quarterback position, he was coming into his fourth season largely untested. While he had near-unanimous support inside the locker room and from his coaches, Bears fans were losing patience.

Many talk show hosts were beginning to label him an injury-prone wannabe. There was even a short-lived website called benchrex.com. And when his performance this preseason fell short, Grossman heard boos from the Soldier Field faithful. As the regular season inched closer, no player in the NFL had more pressure on him.

Grossman's professional career had been rife with tribulations. After sitting on the bench most of his rookie year, he started the final three games. He led the Bears to victory in his first two contests, but injured his finger against the Chiefs in the season finale. Grossman was the Bears' starter in 2004, but suffered a season-ending ACL injury in the third regular season game against Minnesota. He pounded his fist in frustration on the Metrodome turf before he was carted off.

The young QB rehabbed and was 100 percent when training camp opened the following year, but he suffered a broken ankle in a preseason game against the Rams. Grossman rehabbed again and returned at the end of the regular season. Although rusty, Grossman started in a win at Green Bay on Christmas Day that gave the Bears the NFC North title. His stats weren't special -- 11-of-23 for 166 yards with a TD and an interception -- but the team responded well to him. Unfortunately, the Bears' season ended with a home divisional playoff loss to the Panthers in which Grossman played inconsistently.

With this year's poor preseason and his history of injuries, it would have been easy for Grossman to choke when the regular season kicked off. Instead, he picked defenses apart with his rocket arm and led the team to a 7-0 start. The prominent theme in Chicago sports talk radio went from Rex-bashing to speculation that he would take the Bears to the Super Bowl.

But the boo birds returned after Grossman played miserably in a 31-13 loss to Miami, committing four turnovers, including three interceptions. Things didn't improve in the first half of the following week's game against the Giants, when an early Grossman pick helped put the Bears in a 13-3 hole on the road. But Grossman bounced back, throwing three touchdown passes in less than one quarter, to put the Bears up for good.

Having guided Chicago to an 8-1 record and the top of the NFC heap midway through the season, Grossman is fast becoming one of the game's premier young guns, not to mention the face of a franchise historically defined by its brutal defense. The NFL's newest glamour boy sat down with Playboy.com and talked Madden, money and the Bears Super Bowl hopes.