Griese, grimy start for new QB

DETROIT -- Turns out Brian Griese didn't give the Bears any better chance to win than Rex Grossman did.

But so many of his teammates played so poorly in Sunday's sloppy 37-27 loss to Detroit that Griese's struggles at quarterback blended in seamlessly to an overall ugly effort for a team with supposed playoff intentions.

"We collapsed as a team at the end of the game," said a discouraged Bears coach Lovie Smith, whose squad fell to 1-3, a full 3 games behind division-leading Green Bay. "There's not a lot of positive things for me to talk about."

If there was, one of them would be that the Bears actually led 13-3 at the end of the third quarter.

Then the roof caved in.

And even another magnificent performance by return specialist Devin Hester couldn't prevent it.

"Right now we're a 1-3 ballclub, and that's exactly how we've played," Smith said.

The reviews of Griese's first start at quarterback for the Bears weren't much better than the ones Grossman received in the first three games of the season.

In his first start in almost two years, the 10-year veteran threw 3 interceptions, two of which killed great scoring chances while another was returned for a touchdown. He was also sacked six times.

But it wasn't all gloom and doom. Griese completed 34 of 52 passes for 286 yards (68.3 passer rating). He tossed a pair of touchdown passes -- a 15-yarder to Muhsin Muhammad and 1-yard toss to Desmond Clark in the final minute.

But …

"It wasn't good enough," Smith said. "As far as (being) rusty, he hasn't played a lot, but the quarterback position has to protect the football. We turned the ball over again this week, and we can't do that."

Turnovers is why Grossman lost the job to Griese in the first place.

The Bears have now been intercepted nine times this season and their offense came into the game ranked 30th in total yards.

They were hoping that giving Griese the start Sunday would provide some kind of spark.

"It didn't seem to," offensive coordinator Ron Turner sadmitted, "and we haven't played well yet offensively, so regardless of who's in there or what's going on offensively, we just have to put it together and play better … and quit turning the ball over."

The interceptions were the killers Sunday; two of them in particular:

*The Bears were leading 7-3 and had the ball 6 yards from the Lions' end zone with time running out in the first half when Griese failed to lead Bernard Berrian sufficiently. The ball was picked off by Fernando Bryant at the 1-yard line with 29 seconds left.

*Early in the third quarter, Mark Anderson sacked and stripped Lions quarterback Jon Kitna, and Brandon McGowan recovered for the Bears at the Lions' 12. But 3 plays later Griese gave the ball back to Detroit with his second interception when he threw behind Berrian again and was picked off by linebacker Ernie Sims at the 4.

"Any time you turn the ball over, obviously it's bad," Turner said. "But when you don't take advantage of opportunities, you're asking for trouble. We had a great opportunity there.

"Our defense played great, they gave us a lot of opportunities to win the game. When we get the ball on the 12-yard line and don't get any points out of it, it's awfully tough to win."

Hester punt returns of 19 and 31 yards provided enough impetus for even the Bears' offense to stumble into field-goal range twice after that, and Robbie Gould converted from 49 and 41 yards to provide a 13-3 lead.

But that's when an injury-ravaged defense that had given a valiant effort began to fall apart.

The Lions went 70 yards in just 4 plays, moving easily through the air against a secondary missing all four of its opening-day starters to close to within 13-10 on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Four plays later Griese's third interception was returned 70 yards for a touchdown by cornerback Keith Smith, giving Detroit a 17-13 lead.

But the Bears had a response. Hester (95 yards on 5 punt returns, 219 yards on 7 kickoff returns) took the ensuing kickoff 97 yards to get the lead back at 20-17.

But the Detroit offense, sacked almost into submission early, came back firing, going 80 yards in just 5 plays to grab the lead for good at 24-20 on a 15-yard Kitna-to-Troy Walters pass.

When he wasn't getting sacked six times by the Bears, Kitna simply picked apart the depleted secondary, completing 20 of 24 passes for 247 yards and a 137.3 passer rating.

The Lions scored a touchdown on their fourth straight possession to go up 30-20.

They sealed the deal after the Bears put together a 73-yard drive to pull within 30-27 with 52 seconds left. That's when Detroit's Casey FitzSimmons gobbled up the ensuing onside kick and ran it back 41 yards for a touchdown.

The Bears now find themselves alongside Minnesota in the NFC North looking up at Detroit (3-1) and the undefeated Packers.

"If we start thinking we're a bad team right now … we're not playing to our potential, and that's not exactly a bold statement," linebacker Brian Urlacher said.

But a statement they hope to change next week when they travel to Green Bay.