Bears at Lions
With a formidable schedule ahead, the Chicago Bears can’t afford a letdown when they enter Ford Field on Sunday against the perennial woeful Detroit Lions.
The Bears won their fourth straight last week when Jay Cutler and Matt Forte combined to move the ball all day and the defense stopped Mike Vick in a 31-26 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, a team many felt is the best in the NFC.
Cutler threw for 247 yards and four touchdowns - joining Billy Wade as the only Bears quarterbacks with three four-touchdown games during their Chicago careers - while Forte ran for 117 yards, the most Philadelphia has allowed to a back this season.
The defense also harassed Vick all day, sacking him four times and forcing him to throw his first interception of the season.
Cutler may be playing his best football of his career during the winning streak. He has nine TDs against just three interceptions and has pushed his passer rating to a career-high 90.4.
Chicago can’t afford to look past a bad but feisty Detroit team. The Bears (8-3) are one game ahead of Green Bay (7-4) – plus a head-to-head win – in the NFC North and end the season against New England, at Minnesota, against the New York Jets and then at Green Bay.
A good sign for Chicago this weekend is that Cutler and Forte have owned the Lions. Cutler is 3-0 vs. Detroit, completing 63 of 99 (63.6 pct.) for 789 yards and eight touchdowns, one interception and a 111 passer rating. Forte has 657 yards from scrimmage and five touchdowns in five contests – all wins.
Chicago pulled out a 19-14 victory in the 2010 opener when Forte totaled 201 yards from scrimmage – 151 on seven receptions – and Cutler threw for 372 yards and two TDs.
The pair hooked up for a 28-yard touchdown with 1:32 left that provided the win when an apparent touchdown catch by Detroit’s Calvin Johnson in the closing seconds was ruled incomplete when referees ruled Johnson did not maintain possession of the ball throughout the entire process of the catch.
The Lions might be 2-9 but they are dangerous in Ford Stadium. They rolled up 406 yards against New England on Thanksgiving and were tied after three quarters until the Patriots pulled away in the final 15 minutes for a 45-24 win.
Both of the Lions wins have been at home – 37-25 against Washington and 44-6 against St. Louis. Their home losses have been 23-20 in overtime to the Jets and 35-32 against Philadelphia, a game in which Detroit posted a season-high 444 yards.
The Lions have converted an NFL-best 71 percent of its red-zone opportunities into touchdowns (22 of 31) and quarterback Shaun Hill has thrown for at least 285 yards in each of his last three games.
Johnson has 10 scoring grabs in the last eight games, and is the first Lion since Barry Sanders in 1991 to score 11 touchdowns in the first 11 games.
Drew Stanton will start at quarterback in place of Hill, who suffered a broken finger on his throwing hand in the loss to New England.
Stanton will have to be on the lookout for Chicago defensive end Julius Peppers, who has eight sacks and four forced fumbles in his last five games against the Lions.
Both teams have dangerous kick returners. Detroit’s Stefan Logan is second in the league with a 28.1 average on kick returns and sixth with a 12.1 yard average on punt returns.
Chicago’s Devin Hester leads the NFL at 14.8 yards per punt return with a league-best two touchdowns.