From the 30, Grossman appears to be in trouble but threads the needle to Bernard Berrian to the 43 for the first down. Jones gets a couple on first down. Color commentator Tim Ryan queries: "Have you seen a receiver break stride on a Rex Grossman pass today?" No, Tim, I haven't. Grossman hits Muhammad for a first down at the Lions' 43. Tim Ryan: "When you think Chicago Bears, do you think skill positions? I think of the big uglies." They are giving Grossman a ton of time today. Just as I type that, Grossman steps up under pressure from behind and hits Clark close to a first down. Cedric Benson picks up that first down, bowling over three defenders to get a couple extra past the sticks. Benson gets one on first down. Grossman play fakes, finds Desmond Clark inside the 5. Clark makes a great catch on a quasi-jump ball, sheds his defender, extends the ball over the goal line and this is just getting foolish. Flag down and it's defensive holding. Gould nails the PAT.
Bears 24, Lions 0, 3:44 left in the game
Cherry, you channeling Hawk with that? And Chris H., I asked the same question of Chris King as he was approving your comment. I missed the kickoff, but the Lions have it at the 20. Kitna completes to Mike Fuzzey for the first down to the 37, then another pass gets eight to the 45. As the announcers are talking about how the Bears have forced the Lions to become pass-only, the Bears stand up KJ on a run. That kickoff was a touchback, by the way. Two in the game for Gould. What a find he has turned out to be. Touchbacks have been elusive for Bears kickers since Butt-head. Bears bring the pressure again and Tommie Harris gets the fourth sack of the game for the Bears. Harris just ran over KJ's desperate attempt to block. Second punt of the game by Nick Harris, Hester fields at the 22, runs back to the 15 as he's trying to find something, block in the back happens, Hester reverses field, some guy gets a mouthful of Dante Wesley's shoulder (crowd sends out an "OH!" on the replay) and when all is said and done the Bears have the ball inside the 10.
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Halftime: Bears 24, Lions 0
Halftime thoughts: If I were the kind of person who says "off the heezy," I would say this game is "off the heezy." But I do not say "off the heezy," so I will just say that the Bears passing game looks unlike any I've ever seen. They pounded the run, exploited the play-action, Grossman has had all day to pass, has made great throws with a quick release when the Lions have gotten whatever pressure they can put together and the receivers are making great catches. By the way, I would be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to rag on Sports Illustrated's opposing scout again. The "not tough enough" Thomas Jones is having another good game, plus picked up a blitz on the play before Bernard Berrian's 41-yard touchdown catch. The "overrated" Lance Briggs has three tackles and two assists. And I failed to mention last week that Aaron Kampman, the only Packer defender to have a good game against the Bears, was also called "overrated" by the opposing scout. He pressured Grossman into the pick last week and stripped Drew Brees today. Good call on doling out the "overrated" labels.
THIRD QUARTER
Gould's kick goes a yard deep and Eddie Drummond gets brutally leveled at the 25. Doesn't matter, since Boss Bailey held, 1st and 10 from the 13. KJ gets a couple. Kitna finds Roy Williams for a first down plus about five. He has a few first downs today, but nowhere near 40 points. In fact, nowhere near one point. Furrey makes a catch to the 45 for another first down. Williams makes a four-yard catch, fumbles the ball, but was called down. Kitna throws behind Hairy—I mean Fuzzey—I mean Furrey and he drops it as he gets leveled by Urlacher. Kitna gets flushed from the pocket again on third down, Furrey comes back for the ball just short of the sticks, slips as he catches it, and is nailed by two Bears right there. He is down and we go to commercial. Lions go for it on 4th and 1, rolls out right, gets pursued by Urlacher, finds Roy Williams down to the Bears' 24, and Williams does another little first down dance. Kitna then makes a spectacular throw to Dan Campbell down to the 1. The Lions, still not familiar with offensive success, call a timeout with 10:34 left in the quarter. SDFan, I'm partial to the Lion Head pub for football watching. They have good specials for both food and drink, plus have a squares pool and other features. Tim Ryan says if the Lions can't punch it in here, they might as well get on the bus and go home and not bother to finish the game. Urlacher chases KJ out of bounds on first down, but Kitna breaks the Bears defense's shutout streak with a QB sneak to complete an 86-yard drive. PAT is good.
Bears 24, Lions 7, 10:23 left in the 3rd quarter
Big Jim wanted to know what Bears fans will complain about in this game. About 10 comments later, the pass defense comes under fire. Danieal Manning takes the kick at the 2, returns it to the 22. Grossman has all day to throw again, finds Muhammad coming back for the ball for 13 yards. Jones gets a couple. Tim Ryan says the Lions need to get some pressure on Grossman. Not bloodly likely with the way the O-line is playing. Jones gets a couple more for 3rd and 6. Grossman drops, steps up and finds an open Muhammad over the middle for the first down into Lions territory. A John Shoop quick-out to Berrian gets stripped by Bly and the Lions recover on their 48 or so. Not sure on the replay there, but he could have been down. He certainly was as down as Williams was on the previous drive. Lovie is challenging, but he will lose it. It was coming out just as his knee hit.
SDFan, the beds are only in The Apartment, the club upstairs, and it's decidedly closed on nights other than Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Swing pass right to KJ gets four, then a run right by the same gets three, 3rd and 3 from the Bears' 45. Danieal Manning with great coverage on Mike Furrey-Wurrey-Was-A-Lion, batting the pass away on the slant. Punt is a touchback. Manning has had a good game, so far so good from the Bears' top draft pick this season.
On the Angelo evaluation debate going on between Husky Ben and chicagofan, I'd have to give a nod to Angelo for not only his late-round finds (e.g., Vasher, Berrian) but for his free-agent pickups (e.g., Fred Miller, Thomas Jones, Robbie Gould). Grossman thinks he has Clark open, Boss Bailey comes outa nowhere to pick it and return it for the touchdown, but the guy who was guarding Berrian put his hands in Berrian's face and instead of six for the Lions it's 1st and 10 from the 25. Jones gets five to the 30, then Grossman throws incomplete after getting flushed from the pocket. Bears pick up the blitz, Grossman slides to the left, hits Berrian over the middle, and he speeds his way after the catch for a total of 18 to the Bears' 48. Jones hops around for no gain. Kane007, I do agree with you regarding Grossman's decisions. That may be something that disappears with a few more games in the NFL, but only time will tell. Grossman gets Jones on a screen, he juggles it, but has time to haul it in as Kreutz has sealed off his man completely. It only gets a couple to midfield, but great job by Kreutz. Grossman steps up and threads a beautiful pass to Rashied Davis in stride down to the 18. Run gets one. Grossman rolls out right on a play fake, looks like he's going to run out of bounds for a yard gain, but at the last second fires to Clark at the sideline on the 5. Clark grins and points to Grossman. Great look, great throw, great job by Clark to come to that end of the field. Jones gets nothing on 1st and goal, play fake and Grossman hits John Gilmore for TD pass No. 4. PAT is good.
Bears 31, Lions 7, :32 left in the 3rd quarter
Canucklehead, I'll give it a try next week and see how people like it. Cade McNown, the last QB to wear No. 8, was also the last Bears QB to throw four touchdown passes, in 1999. Gould needs a holder for his kickoff, which he sends to the back of the end zone for touchback No. 3. Kitna checks down to KJ for about five, and that's the quarter.
Bears 31, Lions 7
FOURTH QUARTER
KJ gets a pair. Toss outside to KJ and Ricky Manning nails him for no gain and the Lions punt. Hester fields it at the 30, uses a couple of blocks to get 11 yards on the return to the 41, where the highest-rated quarterback in the NFL today will take over.
Moose holds on a Jones run, 1st and 20 on the 31. Ruben Brown false starts, 1st and 25 from the 26. Well, they just took it from the 29, so I guess the original line of scrimmage was the 34, not the 31. Penalty on the Lions gives the Bears five back, then Grossman hits Muhammad for 20 yards and the first down. Muhammad went up to get it, great catch at the Lions' 45. Jones then finds a hole and gets 16 down to the 29. Great lead block by rookie J.D. Runnels in his NFL debut. Jones gets a couple on first down. Grossman is pushing 300 yards and he's 20-for-25. He goes up the right sideline for Mark Bradley and Fernando Bryant makes a nice play on the pass to bat it away. Grossman leads Bradley a little too much on 4th and 7. Gould pushes the field goal just inside the right goal post to stay perfect on the season.
Bears 34, Lions 7, 10:04 left in the game
Eddie Drummond gets leveled at the 17. Bears kickoff coverage has been solid today, when Gould hasn't been parking it in the back of the end zone. On the 3rd and 7 incomplete pass, the Fox replay showed the job Olin Kreutz was doing on Shaun Rogers, and it took that to make me realize that I haven't typed his name since I mentioned he was being double teamed in the first quarter. He has done nothing. Kitna checks down and it gets 10 yards, then a pass to KJ across the middle gets another first down, a pass to Eddie Drummond gets 2nd and 2 at midfield. Kitna's pass is incomplete but there's a flag. Illegal formation and the Lions have 2nd and 7 from their 45 and the Lions have 14 penalties for 104 yards. Cue Nelson Muntz. Incomplete pass makes it 3rd and 7. Ricky Manning nailed Drummond to jar the ball loose. Four wideouts in, Ogunleye sheds Rex Tucker like a horse does flies, bats down Kitna's pass and forces fourth down. The punt goes to the 10, Hester returns to about the 15, and the clock rolls under 8:00.
As the board is clamoring for subs, Lovie responds with the end of Rex Grossman's day. Career highs in yards (288) and touchdowns (4). Benson gets a couple, then four. Griese hits Bradley in the air, he gets tackled backward, forward progress gives him the first down. Terrence Metcalf and John St. Clair in now, too, and Benson gets six and was a shoestring tackle from breaking a big one. Another run to Benson sends the clock under 5:00. Adrian Peterson gets a yard and the Bears will punt after the clock runs under four minutes. Fair catch at the 25. Zevy Reich e-mails in to say that all who had Week 2 on the Griese-for-Grossman pool win their money.
Alfonso Boone sacks Kitna, but face masks him. First and 10 from the 35. Kitna fires to Roy Williams and rookie Jamar Williams bats it away. Rookie DE Mark Anderson made tight end Dan Campbell look foolish on that. Ogunleye and Anderson bring Kitna down for a six-yard loss. Low throw goes through Roy Williams' fingers, 4th and 16. Punt goes inside the 30, Hester returns it to the 30, Paris Lenon is down. Tim Ryan comments, during a montage of the hits the Bears have put on the Lions today, that the Bears are hitting with bad intentions, saying, "the beauty of it is, that's football. They're all legal hits."
Benson gets a couple and ye be warned of two minutes remaining. Run, run, 4th and 3, Maynard to punt with less than a minute to play. Fair catch at the 17.
Kitna checks down to Jones, Cameron Worrell knocks the ball out of his hands and the Bears recover so they can kneel on the ball. Griese does. Thanks, HB.
Final: Bears 34, Lions 7
Final thoughts: Unreal. Four touchdown passes. The only reason Grossman didn't have 300 yards was that the game was out of reach and stats aren't worth it. He made one mistake, but it was erased by a Lions mistake. He won't be so lucky all the time, but outside of that mistake, he was spot on. Receivers hardly had to break stride, and Grossman had all day to pass. SDFan, go ahead and bring your laptop to the Lion Head, they have WiFi, I believe. Oh, and the Bears defense has given up 7 points in two games. Enjoy that. On to the world's largest air mattress, where the Bears haven't won since 2001 and where Grossman hasn't played since he popped his knee. Hold your breath, Bears fans.
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