Miami ? This was the Rex Grossman that the Chicago Bears and their fans feared.

When the Bears needed a clutch throw to catch up in the fourth quarter, their quarterback couldn’t connect.

Instead, Grossman threw a pair of interceptions, one that Kelvin Hayden returned for a touchdown, all but ending Chicago’s chance to win the Super Bowl at rainy Dolphin Stadium.

“A frustrating loss,” Grossman said. “There were definitely opportunities for us to take that game, and we didn’t do it.”

Criticized all season for his erratic play and questioned all week before the biggest game about his up-and-down season, Grossman did little to quiet his detractors Sunday night in a 29-17 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

Two fumbled snaps – one he lost, one he didn’t – and then the two underthrown fourth-quarter picks. Two throws that were pretty, well, gross.

“What can you say? In hindsight, I wish I had thrown it away,” Grossman said of the sideline pass he floated toward Muhsin Muhammad that Hayden returned for a score.

“The timing on it wasn’t right,” he said. “I was giving Moose (Muhammad) a chance to go up and battle for it. Kind of a hitch and go. The corner got his eyes around and saw the ball and made a good play on it.”

Chicago quarterback Rex Grossman (8) chases a fumbled snap. Grossman fumbled two snaps and threw two interceptions in the Bears' loss Sunday in Miami.

Muhammad agreed.

“We were on two different pages where he was going to throw the ball and where I was going to run,” he said.

Grossman’s stats weren’t bad – 20-of-28 for 165 yards. But the Bears had trouble manufacturing drives against Indy’s tough defense. Grossman did have a 4-yard TD pass to Muhammad in the first half, set up by Thomas Jones’ 52-yard run.

But other than Devin Hester’s TD return on the opening kickoff, there was not enough offense, especially in the second half. The Bears managed only 11 first downs, tied for the fifth-lowest total in a Super Bowl. And in the first half, they ran only 19 plays because the Colts held onto the ball.

“My confidence never wavered. It was a matter of getting into a rhythm on offense,” Grossman said. “We just couldn’t do well on third-and-medium. We missed some crucial plays, and that’s the difference in the Super Bowl.”