Kreutz calls goal-line failure 'embarrassing'

Center Olin Kreutz was satisfied with a victory to start his 13th NFL season, but he wasn't thrilled with the offense's inability to move the ball 18 inches on four tries after Lance Briggs forced a Lions fumble and recovered it inside the 1-yard line.

"That's man-on-man and Detroit beat us," Kreutz said. "As an o-line, that's extremely embarrassing, one of the embarrassing parts of this game, and we understand that. But we don't want to take credit away from Detroit either. They kicked our (butt) down there, and that's something we have to remedy as an offensive line.

"Down there you just have to go 1-on-1 with your guy and get under him and move your feet because really it's a battle of wills at the goalline. Your coach can't really help you down there. There's not very many things you can do down there, just line up and get half a yard."

Kreutz downplayed his block earlier in the game that was a key in springing Matt Forte after he caught a screen pass that turned into an 89-yard TD.

"People can talk about the block all they want, but Matt outran like seven guys," Kreutz said. "That's my job on that play. That's what they asked me to do, and that's what I did."

Screen gems: Six screen plays picked up 132 yards Sunday, execution that hasn't been seen from the Bears in a long time.

Mike Martz called for a variety of different screens, although 5 went to Matt Forte and 1 to tight end Greg Olsen. Quarterback Jay Cutler said the screens worked because the Lions were frequently playing Cover 2 and taking deeper drops in coverage.

"It depends on the coverage," he said. "We started off early, and we shifted them to death a little bit. They started backing off and going with a little bit of Cover 2. If you get (receivers) up on the linebackers, those screens are going to go a long way."

Thinning ranks: The defense and special-teams were shorthanded for the second half after linebackers Nick Roach and Hunter Hillenmeyer became unavailable. Roach suffered a hamstring injury, and Hillenmeyer was sick.

Rookie Major Wright got some playing time at free safety at the expense of Chris Harris, while strong safety Danieal Manning played the entire game. Wright got his first snaps during the Lions' third possession, and he was also on the field for the game's final possession.

"The plan was to rotate the guys," coach Lovie Smith said. "We feel good about all three of our safeties."

Sitting it out: For the first time in his career, defensive tackle Marcus Harrison, the 2008 third-round draft pick from Arkansas, was inactive Sunday.

The Bears tried to hand Harrison the starting nose tackle position last year, but he handed it back to Anthony Adams with mostly uninspired play. Now he has fallen to third on the depth chart, behind Matt Toeaina at nose tackle and Henry Melton at the three-technique tackle. Coaches had hoped the 6-foot-3, 312-pound Harrison could at the very least be an effective backup at both tackle positions, but he has failed to live up to expectations - again.

Sitting it out II: Other inactives were wide receiver Earl Bennett, safety Craig Steltz (ankle), defensive end Corey Wootton, offensive tackle J'Marcus Webb, running back Kahlil Bell and cornerback Joshua Moore. Caleb Hanie was the third quarterback.