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Groy, Ola holding the line for Bears' offense

In their previous game the Bears allowed 7 sacks but gave up just 2 on Sunday against Detroit, even though they started undrafted rookies at both guard spots.

Ryan Groy got his second straight start at left guard. Michael Ola started at right guard in place of Kyle Long, who sat out with a hip injury. Ola had been benched in favor of Groy after starting Games 12-13 at left guard.

Ola, who spent the previous two seasons in the Canadian Football League, has now started 12 games, divided among four different positions for the Bears in his first NFL season.

"He's played every position on our line except for center, and the kid, what he's done this year up to this point, has been pretty special," said veteran left tackle Jermon Bushrod. "Kyle's status was a little in the air, so I told him (Sunday) morning, 'Be ready to go.' "

Ola drew the difficult assignment of facing Lions three-time Pro Bowl tackle Ndamukong Suh, who had 2 sacks. But the 6-foot-4, 312-pound Ola wasn't in awe. He has faced elite players throughout the season.

"It's the same challenge as going against anybody else in the NFL," he said. "I've played against a lot of Pro Bowlers this season, (San Francisco's) Justin Smith, (the New York Jets') Muhammad Wilkerson (and) Sheldon Richardson.

"It's just different flavors of the week. At the end of the day, we're all men."

Ola also had a false-start penalty when the Bears were poised to go for it on fourth-and-3 from the Lions' 40. After the infraction made it fourth-and-8, the Bears punted.

Are you kidding?

Tight end Martellus Bennett got no closer to the elusive 1,000-yard receiving mark Sunday when his only reception resulted in zero yards. He remains at 857 yards after 82 receptions.

"I felt like I was getting open through the game, I just felt like we didn't connect at all on the several opportunities that we had," said Bennett, who was targeted three times and had 1 drop.

"They did try to double (team) me here and there, but I was still beating them a lot.

"Overall I felt like I was able to get open. There were a couple plays down the middle, but we didn't connect on it. Overall, just didn't feel like we connected on the level that we could have."

Bennett has the most catches by a tight end in Bears history, and his yardage total is fourth behind Mike Ditka, who had seasons of 1,076, 904 and 897 yards.

Competitive advantage?

Coach Marc Trestman wouldn't commit to his starting quarterback for Sunday's season finale outdoors in Minnesota against the Vikings.

"We'll just work through this," Trestman said. "We'll make the decision as we move into the week."

Clausen, who had just two days of practice in preparation for the Lions because of the short week after a Monday night game, says he hasn't heard.

Clausen said that benched starter Jay Cutler helped him prepare.

"It was the whole quarterback room," Clausen said, including rookie David Fales. "We stayed pretty much until 8:30 every night, trying to watch as much tape as possible. They all helped me out a lot."

By the numbers:

When the Bears moved to 10-point underdogs Sunday morning, it marked the first time they have been double-digit underdogs at home in at least 14 years, according to The GoldSheet. …

Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford Stafford entered the game with a passer rating lower than benched Bears starter Jay Cutler's 89.5, and he's now down to 85.4. Stafford was picked off twice in the red zone Sunday, finishing the day with a 53.7 passer rating, 23.3 points lower than the Bears' Jimmy Clausen. …

The Bears averted what would have been a fifth scoreless first half in nine weeks with a late second-quarter touchdown. It was the fifth time this season they've scored exactly 7 points in the first half, and they have been outscored in the first half 258-131.

Sitting it out:

Sunday's inactives were guard Kyle Long (hip), safety Chris Conte (back), kicker Robbie Gould (right quadriceps), defensive tackle Will Sutton (ill), quarterback David Fales, cornerback Terrance Mitchell and defensive end Trevor Scott.

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