[CBFF] Some Good Lines in This Detroit Article

[Steve Behrens]

((I especially liked the 'Third Quarter' comment...))


September 18, 2006

*GAME BALLS*

• *Rex Grossman:* This is the kind of performance the Bears expected when
they drafted Grossman out of Florida and former Packers general manager Ron
Wolf compared him to Brett Favre. Grossman completed 20 of 27 passes for 289
yards and four touchdowns and looked great doing it.

• *The Bears defensive line:* Tank Johnson, Tommie Harris, Adewale Ogunleye
and Alex Brown combined for 5 1/2 sacks and forced and recovered a fumble.

• *Jon Kitna:* Oh, if only Joey had played so well while the Lions got their
butts kicked. Wait. That came out wrong. If only ... oh, never mind.

*FIRST QUARTER*

Mistakes killed the Lions. They had a holding penalty on a punt return, an
illegal shift penalty and a fumble by Kitna that was recovered by the Bears
at the Lions' 3. Then rookie linebacker Ernie Sims misread a Bears' passing
play, leaving tight end John Gilmore wide open for a touchdown. And then
Kevin Jones fumbled, Dré Bly committed pass interference and the Bears
kicked a field goal. The game was less than nine minutes old. Not good.

*SECOND QUARTER*

Mistakes killed the Lions. What? You've heard that before? Well let's put it
this way, then: errors really damaged the Lions' chances. Mike Furrey
committed offensive pass interference when the ball wasn't even thrown to
him. Grossman threw two more touchdown passes, and the second added
indignity to the proceedings: Fernando Bryant was flagged for defensive
holding and he still gave up the touchdown.

*THIRD QUARTER*

This was the Lions' best quarter, but that's like picking the best movie out
of the Jean-Claude Van Damme oeuvre. So what? The Lions opened the second
half with a 10-play, 86-yard touchdown drive. It featured five first downs
and ended with a Kitna sneak for a touchdown. The Bears came back with an
80-yard drive that ended with another touchdown pass to Gilmore.

*FOURTH QUARTER*

Yes, even though the Bears led, 31-7, and the Lions were as likely to stage
a comeback as Elvis Presley, they went ahead and played the fourth quarter.
The Bears kicked a field goal. The Lions didn't score. And so this year's
34-7 result looks a lot like last year's 38-6 final.

*ODDS AND ENDS*

For what it's worth -- not much -- this year's game really wasn't quite the
disaster that last year's was. Remember, last year the Bears started Kyle
Orton, a rookie of mediocre ability, at quarterback. At least this year
Grossman made some plays that would have beaten any team.

Kitna completed 23 or 30 passes for 230 yards, with no interceptions. He had
a 97.9 quarterback rating. When was the last time you saw those numbers for
a quarterback whose team lost by 27 points?

The Bears have now outscored their two oldest rivals, the Packers and Lions,
by a combined 60-7. Next week they play the other undefeated NFC North team,
Minnesota.

*OVERHEARD*

• "We scored a touchdown. That part is good. But this team is capable of
averaging 28 points a game -- averaging 28 points a game. So far we're
averaging five points a game. Or ... what is that? Eight points a game. So
20 points off our average." -- Lions wide receiver Roy Williams, whose team
is actually averaging 6.5 points per game.

• "Desmond Clark's a great tight end. On the touchdown they put a little
corner on him and that's like Spud Webb guarding Shaq." -- Bears quarterback
Rex Grossman.

• "They've been on him so hard the last few weeks. You sit back and you're
like, 'Damn, just a few months he was (hailed) and now you're booing him.' I
like what he's doing. I hope he can keep it up." -- Clark, on Grossman
winning back the fickle hearts of Bears fans.

• "The way that we got off the ball today, the sack early by Tank set the
tone and they were scared from that point on." -- Bears defensive end
Adewale Ogunleye.

*MICHAEL ROSENBERG*