Subbing for the injured Brian Griese, Grossman delivered for the Chicago Bears. His well-thrown 59-yard pass to Bernard Berrian with just 3:11 left yesterday gave the Bears the lead and a huge lift in a 17-6 comeback win over the Oakland Raiders.

So after Rex came to the rescue is he back as a starter?

Coach Lovie Smith wasn't saying today, revealing that Griese has a sprained left shoulder and has not been medically cleared to play — a factor that could give Grossman his first start since the third game of the season

"Well, first he needs to be cleared medically, and from there, if he's cleared medically, he should be ready to go," Smith said.

The Bears are 4-5 headed into Sunday's game at Seattle, a team they beat in the regular season and the playoffs last season en route to the Super Bowl. In the 27-24 overtime win against the Seahawks in the playoffs last January, Grossman completed a 30-yard pass to Rashied Davis to set up Robbie Gould's winning field goal.

"Yes, it's unclear who's going to start Sunday. Once you get healthy guys, then you start ... right now we finished with two guys that could play, Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton, so that's really what we're dealing with right now," Smith said.

And he added that he doesn't have to make a decision on a starter until Sunday. But it could be obvious by Wednesday's practice, if Griese is ready or if Grossman is running the offense. The latter is more probable.

"Someone will be lining up out there Wednesday, someone who's healthy and ready to go," Smith said.

Grossman fumbled his very first snap yesterday and completed 7 of 14 passes for 142 yards, decent numbers for someone who'd been sitting for seven weeks.

"It took me a while to get into the flow and the rhythm of the game, but that was indescribable," Grossman said.

Grossman, whose contract expires after the season, had just one TD pass and six interceptions in the first three games before he was replaced.

"I hope people appreciate that Rex hasn't shut it down," center Olin Kreutz, a Saint Louis School graduate, said after the game.

"He hasn't moped around our building. He's kept himself prepared and ready to play. I hope it shows a lot of people what everybody on this team already knew about Rex. He's still a professional, and he's still going to be ready to win."

Smith said he took notice of how well Grossman played in what he called a hostile environment. He said it's what he expects of anyone who is second string.

"It showed that Rex has been paying attention," Smith said.

"The next play they could be called upon and that's how it was with Rex. But Rex has prepared that way. You're disappointed when you're not the starter, but you have to prepare like you could end up coming in and playing, and that's what he's done and I think that's what we saw from the way he played."

The Bears' defense got three sacks from Adewale Ogunleye, but their running game was stuck as usual, making it tougher on whomever the quarterback might be.

Cedric Benson carried 29 times but managed just 76 yards.