Bears Third Drive
- There's Devin Hester! That quick screen to set up a one-on-one match-up rarely works. But it has worked for Hester before and worked again there.
- A strong run by Bush is negated by a rather weak personal foul called on Rachal.
- Then a gimme pass interference call drawn by Hester.
- Michael Bush, my goodness. Another hurdle.
- Brandon Marshall just knows how to use his body. His long third-down grab was a thing of beauty.
- I imagine Cutler could have gotten past Vanden Bosch, but the quarterback slipped. Without that sack, it's possible that the Bears could have reentered field goal range on the drive. Instead they're punting again. Podlesh hit a strong punt but got an imperfect bounce.
- I have to imagine we're about to see a deliberate scoring drive from the Lions.
Lions Third Drive
- Conte got caught in no-man's-land on the Lions opening play, but Stafford still read a Conte blitz, throwing the ball away. The young safety caught a real break.
- I like that the officials didn't call pass interference on Stafford's silly bomb toward Calvin. Still, Tillman took an unnecessary risk by slowing down in Johnson's path to the ball. Had Peanut continued running, he could have made a play on the ball.
- The Lions made the perfect play call on third down, throwing a screen right over the top of a Bears blitz. But Brian Urlacher is headed for the Hall of Fame. He may not be fast. He may not be quick. But he's going to be in the right spot. Two blockers, one receiver, and only one Bear. But he's Brian Urlacher.
- Harris hit his worst punt of the night. Good thing Tillman didn't try to intercept that deep pass for Calvin.
Bears Fourth Drive
- Strong running from Michael Bush has allowed the Bears to move the ball rather consistently. Without much of a hole, he made a nice run to the left side and set up the offense to take a chance - albeit unsuccessful - on second down.
- Good coverage by the Lions forces a Cutler rollout without receivers to hit downfield.
- Logan, holy cow. I get that he wanted to save a couple of yards, but with a coverage man on his back, a muffed catch there would have ended the game. Simply not worth the risk.
Lions Fourth Drive
- Stafford has quite an arm. His dump off to Titus Young traveled about 30 aerial yards, but he made it look like a quick flick of the wrist.
- I'd love to see another replay of Stafford's deep pass on the right sideline to Titus Young. It appeared that Young stepped out of bounds prior to catching the pass.
- Nice try by Conte, but he clearly didn't get that one. He should have made a better play on that ball. Stafford got lucky there, just throwing up a prayer right at Conte.
- Too much cushion from Tillman on a second-and-15 play with Conte over the top helping out.
- The defensive line chose a terrible time to go quiet.
- Tim Jennings chose a similarly terrible time to allow Bell to bounce off a tackle and pick up three extra yards.
- Major Wright has to make that play. He did a great job reading Stafford and jumping the pass. But that could be a seven point drop.
- Stafford was so cool and collected during the drive, but really came undone on the second and third down plays. I'd love to know why in the world he decided to throw it away on fourth down. What did he have to lose?
- It feels right that the ugly red zone possession ended with an interception, even if D.J. Moore's pick merely padded his statistics.
Bears Fifth Drive
- I wish we could have skipped those three minutes of time, taken away the Detroit timeouts, and allowed the Bears to go directly to their punt.
- Again, what in the world is Logan doing? It feels like he's trying to turn the ball over again.
Lions Fifth Drive
- Before this drive, I told a friend of mine "I hate that this game will come down to an onside kick." I hope I'm wrong.
- I'm stunned that Stafford needed a full 20 seconds to run the second play after the two minute warning. He seems so comfortable running the hurry-up.
- Israel Idonije looked to have ended the game with a 15-yard sack, but Stafford's pass to Young was really, really impressive, picking up a big first down.
- Nice breakup by Urlacher, reading Pettigrew.
- Yet another tremendous throw by Stafford, hitting Broyles over Jennings and past Conte. Here comes that dreaded onside kick.
- Thank goodness for Earl Bennett. Hanson got a nice hop on his onside attempt, but he got too much depth on it, leaving Bennett 15 yards deep to read the second hop.
I'll have some final thoughts tomorrow. For now, 5-1 sure feels nice!
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