Detroit Lions 37, Chicago Bears 27

Lions Score a NFL-Record 34 Points in the Fourth Quarter

Entering the fourth quarter of yesterday’s game at Ford Field in Pontiac, Michigan, the Chicago Bears were up 13-3. Come again?

Yes sir. The Bears were up 10 points going into the fourth quarter. And while the Lions were on the verge of scoring at the end of the third quarter and actually did so on the first play of the fourth when quarterback Jon Kitna connected with wide receiver Shaun McDonald on a quick-hitting out pass, the question remains what went the hell went wrong in the final 15 minutes.

Well to begin with, the Bears offense was a big culprit once again. In simple terms, Chicago’s defensive front four carried a depleted unit and dominated the Lions for three quarters, and Chicago failed to take advantage and put the game away.

After Brian Griese hit Mushin Muhammad for a touchdown pass in the second quarter to give the Bears a 6-3 lead, Chicago seemed to have seized the momentum. Griese and the Bears were on the doorstep of another touchdown late in the first half when the newly-anointed quarterback made a play seen way too often by his predecessor, the recently-benched Rex Grossman.

Lacking the arm strength of Grossman, Griese tried to roll out and throw a pass off his back feet to Bernard Berrian in the end zone. The pass was naturally picked off by Detroit’s Fernando Bryant and a potential 13-3 lead (assuming the PAT; a big assumption thus far this season in the NFL) at that point, ceased to be.

After Mark Anderson sacked Kitna and forced a fumble at the Detroit 12-yard line early in the third quarter, the Bears proceeded to immediately turn the ball over. Griese threw a pass behind Berrian that bounced off his shoulder pads and was picked off by Ernie Sims. Oh, what could have been a 20-3 lead or even a 13-3 lead or even a 10-3 lead remained a 7-3 lead.

Up until the final minutes of the third quarter, Chicago’s defensive line held the Lions from doing anything. Offensively, the Bears had two more drives in Detroit territory and had to settle for field goals. If Chicago was able to get at least one touchdown on one of those drives in combination with a Robbie Gould field goal, the Bears would have been up anywhere from 30-3 to 23-3 to 20-3 rather than a 13-3 lead.

Like every game this season (refer back to the first quarter of the Cowboys game and first halves of the Chargers and Chiefs games), the Bears didn’t take advantage offensively when the defense was dominating.

And naturally, after the defense finally gave up a touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter, the offense gave one right back to the Lions. After the McDonald touchdown, Griese made another Grossman-like play, throwing a ball directly to Detroit defensive back Kevin Smith for a 65-yard touchdown return and a 17-13 deficit.

Devin Hester then once again tried to save the Bears, returning a kickoff 97 yards for a 20-17 lead. However, the Bears defense, decimated by injuries, was worn out at this point of the game. Kitna marched the Lions down the field, hitting Troy Walters on a beautiful pass and catch for the touchdown and a 24-20 lead.

Chicago’s offense responded like it’s done all season long, by either turning the ball over or going three-and-out. Quick. Pick a hand, any hand. If you picked the right hand, you would be correct. Trailing by four, the Bears put together yet another “impressive” three-and-out drive on offense.

The Lions would score on its next possession, with the Detroit running game and a terrible offensive line starting to take advantage of an exhausted Chicago defense line. Lions Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz finally attacked the Bears second-string defensive secondary, with Kitna hitting Mike Furrey on a big slant in the middle of the field deep down into Chicago territory. On a play eerily similar to LaDainian Tomlinson’s fourth quarter touchdown in Week One, Kevin Jones ran off the right tackle, over and past the Bears defense for a touchdown and a 30-20 lead.

Chicago then amazingly dinked and dunked over the middle of the field, rather than using the sidelines, with the game in its final minutes. The Bears would catch a break on a strange fumble recovered by offensive lineman Roberto Garza, who then fumbled the ball right back to Detroit. However, the call was finally overturned by a beleaguered officiating crew since Garza can not advance the ball as an offensive lineman.

After this break, the Bears almost still didn’t score a touchdown but were aided and abetted when Shaun Rogers jumped offsides on a Gould field goal attempt. On fourth and goal from the one yard, Griese would hit Desmond Clark for a touchdown with slightly over a minute left.

The Bears would then screw up an onside kick that was returned for a touchdown by Detroit for a touchdown to seal the game. After a Jason Hanson PAT, the Lions had scored a record 34 points in the fourth quarter, and the Bears were left licking its wounds.

In all seriousness, the Bears could have had 41 points in this game (making a huge assumption that Griese doesn’t throw the two interceptions inside the Lions 10 yard line and that the Bears actually got two touchdowns on that drive). But to make such an assumption, one would have to assume that the Bears had an offense.

Grading Sunday’s Performances in No Particular Order

Chicago Offensive Line F: This unit was supposed to be a strength coming into the season; it has been the foundation of all the Chicago’s problems on offense. Chicago tackles Fred Miller and John Tait have been burned off the corners all season long, and the Bears can not pick up a blitz, give Griese or Grossman any time to throw the ball or really open up a hole for the awful Cedric Benson. Chicago’s line looks old, and it’s time for the Bears to retool this unit after the season.

Brian Griese F: Granted that the line didn’t do much for him in terms of protection (Griese was sacked six times Sunday), the new Chicago quarterback had three bonehead interceptions. While rusty, Griese had a worse game on Sunday than any of Grossman’s first three performances in 2007. Griese is a decent backup and a quality teammate; however, he’s a game manager. The Bears are no better with Griese than they were with Grossman, especially when the offensive line is full of matadors.

Cedric Benson F: This kid needs to go. In Benson’s defense, Chicago’s offensive line has not consistently opened up many holes. With that said, Benson was drafted to run over people. Have you ever seen a bigger guy go down on initial contact? A prime example. Benson broke out for a 16-yard run into the Lions secondary early in the third quarter only to have a Detroit safety put his shoulder down and knock the Bears back straight to the ground. Benson also fumbled after getting drilled by Ernie Sims in the second quarter and disappeared yet again from the game immediately afterwards.

Ron Turner F: As the Offensive Coordinator, Turner gets the blame for his unit’s pathetic showing in the first quarter of the season. People complained that the Bears threw the ball 51 times yesterday. This is not Turner’s fault as the team doesn’t have a running back. However, the fact that Chicago only threw one pass out of 51 passes for more than 20 yards is a disturbing revelation of a coordinator who’s dinking and dunking the Bears into the cellar of the NFC North.

Lovie Smith F: This guy just sits back and watches these similar types of losses unfold each and every time. And the Bears are starting to look like a very undisciplined team, with four personal foul penalties on Sunday. Discipline falls on the shoulders of the Head Coach, and the Bears are falling apart under Smith’s watchful eye.

Chicago Front Four A-: Chicago’s front four (primarily Mark Anderson, Tommie Harris and Adewale Ogunleye) dominated this game for nearly three quarters. Anderson had two sackes, Harris was very strong despite an injury himself, and Ogunleye had his best game as a Bear. The front four kept Chicago in the game for as long as they could, but the offense failed to convert, and these guys began to get tired physically and mentally.

Chicago Defense as a Whole B-: Former Bear Jerry Azumah made a very dumb comment last night when analyzing the game. He blamed the Bears defense for giving up 37 points. In reality, the Bears defense gave up 23 points, not bad considering how decimated the unit was coming into the game and taking into account that the Lions do have a good offensive system (despite Martz’s conservatism through three quarters). Don’t hang this game on the defense, which gave the Bears a chance yet again. The offense, once again, failed to seize the day.

Devin Hester A+: Even though he had two fumbles which weren’t lost, Bears fans will live with that with Hester, considering that he basically has to score every time he touches the ball. Hester’s fourth quarter kickoff return was flat-out amazing, and Hester nearly missed two other returns for scores. Hester basically won the Chiefs game and tried his best to do so yesterday. It’s unfortunate that a Hester is wasting away on this Bears team.

Officiating F: That was as bad as a game that’s ever been called. Those refs were clueless and confused from the onset of the game, from a Kitna fumble in the first quarter that wasn’t allowed to be challenged to leaving their microphones on during a meeting with Lions Head Coach Rod Marinelli to taking forever to make a decision on the Garza play to calling a penalty with two seconds left in a fourth quarter that was more than an hour long. Guess you don’t have to be the Chicago Bears Offensive Coordinator to be a knucklehead.