INDIANAPOLIS – Some in his position might have looked at free agency as a ticket out of a town, as a chance to start over with a different team in a new city where the scrutiny isn’t as relentless.

Quarterback Rex Grossman will return to the Bears for his sixth season in 2008.

But not quarterback Rex Grossman. On Saturday, the 2003 first-round draft pick agreed to a one-year contract with the Bears.

“I love the organization,” Grossman told ChicagoBears.com late last month. “They drafted me. A lot of bad things have happened to me since I’ve been here with injuries and things, but the 2006 season was a special one. We almost completed the ultimate goal. I want to finish that. I want to finish what I started and I want to be a Bear for the rest of my life.”

Throughout the offseason, general manager Jerry Angelo has stated that he would like Grossman to return to the Bears and compete for the starting quarterback position in 2008.

“We’re real happy given that we said we wanted Rex back,” Angelo said Saturday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. 

“He was motivated to be back and we feel it’s good for both sides. The continuity can’t be minimized in all this, and Rex brings that as well as [being] a very talented player with good game day experience, so we feel with him in the mix this is going to make us better.”

Grossman helped lead the Bears to the Super Bowl in 2006 in his first full season as a starter, but he was heavily criticized for committing a rash of turnovers in a handful of poor outings.

The former Florida star was benched after starting the first three games in 2007, but he performed much better in five games after regaining the No. 1 job from Brian Griese.

Grossman passed for 913 yards with 3 TDs, 1 interception and an 80.2 passer rating in his second stint, a vast improvement after throwing for 500 yards with 1 TD, 6 interceptions and a 45.2 rating in the first three games.

Grossman’s improved play during his second stint in 2007 went a long way in convincing the Bears to re-sign him.

“That little time that he had to reflect helped him quite a bit,” Angelo said Saturday. “For whatever reason, he didn’t start the season the way we would have hoped and he would have hoped. Who knows why; that’s behind us. But once he was able to gather himself, we saw a better Rex, somebody that obviously was more to our liking, and we want to continue that.”

Why a one-year contract and not a long-term deal?

“It makes the most sense given money,” Angelo said. “That’s the bottom line. Everybody wants as much money as they can [get]. By doing a one-year deal, he gets a chance to prove and show the things that he feels he can do and we get a chance to see them, and then we go back to the table so-to-speak. It’s no more than that. It was with the intent of both parties and we were able to get it done.”

Despite the scrutiny he has endured, Grossman didn’t seek a clean slate elsewhere.

“You can get a fresh start, but the Bears to me are a known commodity,” Grossman said in January. “You know what you’re going into. You know you’ve got a bunch of great teammates around you.

“The coaching staff knows what I can do more than any coaching staff. They know what my potential is. That’s always comforting when you know that the coaching staff knows exactly how good you can become and good you can be. There are a lot of good things about being a Bear.”

Addressing the media immediately after the 2007 season concluded, Angelo and coach Lovie Smith both said they wanted Grossman to return, but also agreed that stabilizing the quarterback position remains a top priority.

“Rex has won a lot of football games for us around here,” Smith said at the time. “You look at how he played at the end of the football season until he came up with that injury, he is playing good football. We would like for him to come back again.”

Grossman is expected to compete for the starting job with Kyle Orton, who looked impressive in closing 2007 by leading the Bears to their only back-to-back wins of the season over the Packers and Saints.

“[Grossman] understands it,” Angelo said Thursday at the NFL Combine. “He’s talked to Lovie about it. I’ve talked to his agent about it. He’s fine with it. Obviously we want to get the best player under center. Kyle did some good things at the end. I think he deserves the right to compete at the position."