Moore, like Bears' defense, redeems himself

DETROIT -- You could almost feel sorry for 5-foot-8, 183-pound Bears nickel cornerback D.J. Moore having to cover the Lions' 6-5, 236-pound wide receiver Calvin “Megatron” Johnson.

But the size difference isn't going to buy Moore any sympathy for what happened at the end of the first half Sunday at Ford Field, and he knows it.

After Moore missed a jam on Johnson at the line of scrimmage, he hauled in a sideline pass and then eluded safety Chris Harris and stiff-armed Moore to the ground around the 15-yard line before completing the 46-yard TD catch, his 12th of the season.

“Man, when he caught it, he had a lot of space to make a move on the safety and then I got stiff-armed pretty good,” Moore said. “I know I'm going to see that on ESPN. I'm embarrassed by that. But it was a good player making a good play.

“I was like, ‘Oh, geez.' I'm going to have to watch this over and over. People are going to call me, and be like, ‘You got stiff-armed.' Whatever.”

Much like the Bears' defense, which struggled in the first half and excelled after intermission, Moore went on to redeem himself in the comeback victory.

With the Lions clinging to a 20-17 lead and facing a fourth-and-1 at the Bears' 41 early in the fourth quarter, Moore broke up a pass intended for wide receiver Nate Burleson.

The Bears' offense took over on downs and scored the go-ahead touchdown 3:21 later.

“I think the quarterback (Drew Stanton) threw the ball a little bit behind him, so I had an opportunity to make a play on it,” said Moore, who leads the Bears with 4 interceptions.

On the Lions' next possession, with the Bears protecting a 24-20 lead, Moore came off the edge on a blitz and got to Stanton at the same time as linebacker Brian Urlacher, who blitzed up the middle. Each was credited with a half- sack, the first of Moore's two-year career.

“They were more worried about the blitz inside because for some reason nobody touched me,” Moore said. “We had so many guys rushing, they weren't worried about No. 30 coming around the corner.”

Moore finished third on the Bears with 6 tackles, including 1 for lost yardage, and he had an earlier hit on Stanton.