Lions stay undefeated in Division with 37-27 Win
If someoone told you beforehand that a team in the Bears-Lions game would set an NFL record for points in a quarter you’d probably assume it was the Lions who surrendered that record-setting performance. Their defense hasn’t looked great so far this season and the Bears - while having a number of injuries to their starters - still have a pretty formidable defense that would make it unlikely the Leos would score 34 points period.
But unlikely as that sounds, Detroit has the record setting performance as they came back to win the game comfortably after trailing 13-3 at the start of the 4th quarter. After Devin Hester returned a Lions kickoff 97 yards at the 12:57 mark to give their Bears their last lead at 20-17, the Lions scored touchdowns on their next two possessions to build up a 30-20 lead.
Chicago has a full-blown quarterback controversy and it’s the worst kind: both quarterbacks are just bad. The biggest culprit though is Jerry Angelo, who let Thomas Jones walk this offseason. He was an underrated key to Chicago’s offense as he kept pressure off Rex Grossman. Cedric Benson hasn’t been able to fill his cleats and has been almost as generous turning the ball over as have Grossman and Brian Griese. Griese in particular threw 3 interceptions yesterday with one being returned for a touchdown right before Hester gave the Bears their last gasp of life before the Lions offense put the game away.
The final score came when the Lions were able to return an onside kick for a touchdown. How un-Lion like! The team seems to slowly be shaking off the stink of ineptitude that has clung to the team for years. One perfect example was two first-half possessions that faultered deep in Chicago territory. Tatum Bell fumbled at the Chicago 5 yard line at the 14:16 mark of the second quarter. Then the Lions had a 39 yard field goal attempt blocked on the next drive.
But as flawed as the offense was for the first 45 minutes, it was highly effective in getting the job done in the 4th quarter. Including a drive that started with 41 seconds left in the 3rd quarter, the team had three offensive drives and all of them ended in the Chicago endzone. Add in the 64 yard interception return for a touchdown, a TD return of an on-side kick, and a missed PAT, and you have a new NFL record for most points in a quarter.
As far as looking forward, Green Bay looks like the team to beat in the NFC North. They’re undefeated and Brett Favre is continuing his assault on the NFL record books. The Pack beat an Eagles team that completely outclassed the Lions; so while the Lions are winning the games they should win, they still have a ways to go to be taken seriously as a playoff contender. With that being said, it’s sure nice to have the Lions still in playoff consideration with 1/4 of the season having been played. They’re usually mathematically eliminated by this point in the season.
Head coach Rod Marinelli used some self-deprecating humor to credit his team’s turnaround. The quote is from this MLIVE article.
“This game was just like me — ugly,'’ said Lions coach Rod Marinelli. “But it was also like me — just keeping fighting. In our three wins, it’s been a street fight. They just don’t quit.'’
That has been Marinelli’s biggest challenge: to get one of the worst franchises in professional sports to disown the team’s history of failure and to believe that their work will not be in vain, that the season will not end in soul-crushing fashion, and that instead all of the effort will in fact pay off. To his credit he’s also made great hires in Mike Martz and Joe Barry.
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[…] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThe Pack beat an Eagles team that completely outclassed the Lions; so while the Lions are winning the games they should win, they still have a ways to go to be taken seriously as a playoff contender. With that being said, it’s sure nice … […]