Winless Lions look gift horse in the mouth
INDIANAPOLIS - Apparently, winning is still too complex for the Detroit Lions.
Two turnovers, short fields and playing against a worn down, short-handed Colts defense wasn't the answer, either.
Peyton Manning led the Colts on two fourth-quarter scoring drives, delivering another blow to Detroit's psyche with a 31-21 victory Sunday and keeping the Lions on track for a winless season.
"No one wants to be part of that. No one wants to have their name involved with that," quarterback Dan Orlovsky said. "It's tough to swallow, everybody says we stink. We don't have much debate with that."
Indianapolis (10-4) might quibble with that now, but nobody can argue the dreadful numbers.
Detroit (0-14) has lost 15 straight and 21 of 22. The Lions are 2 defeats away becoming the first NFL team to finish 0-16.
The Lions have been close, losing five times by 8 points or fewer. It would have been 6 if Adam Vinatieri hadn't made a last-minute field goal Sunday, but close isn't good enough.
Manning was 28 of 37 for 318 yards and 1 touchdown, and although the Lions did a respectable job defending receivers, they allowed tight end Dallas Clark to roam free.
Clark finished with 12 receptions, a single-game franchise record for tight ends, 142 yards and 1 acrobatic touchdown catch. He broke his single-season record for receptions by a tight end and set a career high with 684 yards.
The Colts fumbled four times, had a potential scoring drive derailed by a holding penalty and the defense struggled to get off the field in the second half.
After falling into a 21-10 halftime deficit, the Lions fought back.
Keiwan Ratliff fumbled a punt early in the third quarter, setting up Jason Hanson's 31-yard field goal. Kevin Smith followed that by looping around the left side for a 1-yard TD run with 12:52 left in the game. Orlovsky tied it at 21-21 with a 2-point conversion pass to Casey FitzSimmons.
It was all Manning after that.
He methodically marched the Colts 88 yards, finally giving to Rhodes for a 1-yard TD run and a 28-21 lead, and he closed it out by grinding out nearly all of the final five minutes before Vinatieri's 30-yard kick sealed it with 39 seconds left.
"I thought we played good enough to win," Lions cornerback Travis Fisher said. "I'm just trying to get a win. Who care's about being close? Who cares about any of the other things? The only pressure on us is we need to get a win, period."
Steelers 13, Ravens 9
BALTIMORE -- The Pittsburgh Steelers used a second straight fourth-quarter comeback to earn another AFC North title.
Santonio Holmes caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger with 43 seconds left, and the Steelers clinched their second consecutive division crown by beating the Baltimore Ravens 13-9 Sunday.
The Steelers (11-3) trailed 9-6 before moving 92 yards in 13 plays to take their only lead and score the game's lone touchdown. Roethlisberger went 7-for-11 for 89 yards on the drive.
Last week, Pittsburgh used a 17-point fourth quarter to rally past Dallas 20-13. The Steelers have won five straight, and this was their first win in Baltimore since 2002. It also earned the Steelers a first-round bye.
Matt Stover kicked three field goals for the Ravens (9-5), who remain in the wild-card hunt despite being eliminated from the AFC North race.
The Steelers began their final drive at their 8 with 3:36 left. Two straight completions to Hines Ward moved the ball to the 34, and a third-and-10 completion to Nate Washington for 16 yards took Pittsburgh to midfield.
Washington caught a 24-yarder to the 14, and a 10-yard pass to Ward set up first-and-goal at the 4. After two incompletions, Roethlisberger scrambled left, then found Holmes over the middle for the winner.