Brian Griese

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 Broncos' starting quarterback. Griese earned a 75.6 passer rating during his first season as starter, but improved the next year, raising it to 102.9. His efforts merited him an invite to the 2000 Pro Bowl.

Griese 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 was unable to establish himself as one of the elite quarterbacks of the league, due to injuries and a penchant for interceptions. He was released by the Broncos, following the 2002 season, and was replaced by former Cardinals starter Jake Plummer.

In June 2003 he signed with the Miami Dolphins. His stint with the Dolphins, where his father Bob Griese played his entire 14-year career, was brief, being released in February 2004. 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.

Griese signed with and performed 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 the 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 preseason, 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 lost Super Bowl XLI to the Indianapolis Colts.

After Grossman struggled during the first three outings 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 led the Bears on a game-winning drive against the Philadelphia Eagles, in which he called the plays due to a headset failure. Griese lost the starting job to Grossman after sustaining an injury against the Oakland Raiders during week ten.[3] Griese again replaced Grossman later in the season, after Grossman sustained a knee injury against the Washington Redskins.[4] However, with the Bears out of the playoffs, Kyle Orton started the remaining 3 games of the season.

On March 3, 2008, Griese was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in exchange for a sixth round pick in the 2009 draft.[5] He started the second game of the season, a home game against the Atlanta Falcons, which the Buccaneers won 24–9. Griese completed 18 of 31 passes, throwing for 160 yards with one touchdown. The next week, Griese played his old team, the Chicago Bears, and despite throwing 3 interceptions, he threw for 407 yards and 2 touchdowns to help the Buccaneers beat the Chicago Bears 27–24 in overtime on September 21, 2008. He also started the following week, and again despite throwing 3 interceptions, he completed 15 of 30 passes for 149 yards, 1 touchdown, and lead the Bucs to a victory over the Green Bay Packers 30–21. Griese found himself starting against the Atlanta Falcons again on December 14, 2008, subbing for Jeff Garcia who was sidelined with a calf injury. He completed 26 of 37 passes for 269 yards and threw 1 touchdown. But Griese also threw an interception and was sacked four times in all. The Bucs ended up losing the game in overtime 13–10. His career starting for Tampa Bay was 8–2. He was released on July 13, 2009.[6] After his release, Griese decided to retire from football.

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