Bears’ defense bends, then breaks
DETROIT — The Bears’ defense found a way to limit Detroit wide receiver Calvin Johnson and hold the Lions running game in check early Monday night.
They just couldn’t do it for 60 minutes — and when the noise at Ford Field finally subsided, the Lions had a 24-13 victory that left the Bears at 2-3.
A defense that played at times like it had in the past sporadically reverted to giving up big plays as it has done much of this season.
“Defensively we just can‘t give up big plays like that,” said Bears coach Lovie Smith.
The Bears’ secondary tried to prevent big plays from the receiver known as “Megatron” by putting cornerback Charles “Peanut” Tillman on Johnson all over the field.
Tillman started doing this in the second half of a 2009 game at Soldier Field after Johnson had made 5 first-half catches and went over 100 yards. The end result was a Johnson became almost a non-factor at times.
However, the words of safety Chris Harris last week proved prophetic when Johnson got loose for a 73-yard TD catch in the second quarter Monday.
“He’s a big body,” Harris said. “You can’t allow him free releases. He’s got very good speed. We want to try to throw off the timing routes.”
Tillman didn’t put his hands on Johnson at the line and he got into the secondary, then behind Harris, who was playing for the first time since Week 1 because he was sidelined with a hamstring pull.
With the Bears trailing 14-10 in the third quarter, the defense reverted to the type of play that had dropped them to 31st overall against the rush.
Completely silenced until the start of the third quarter, running back Jahvid Best broke an 88-yard TD run untouched, the third-longest run against the Bears in history. Best had just 12 rushing yards in the first half, but he finished with 163 on 12 attempts.
The Lions had gone ahead to start the second half by working the ball to tight ends in a double tight end attack, much like Carolina did. Brandon Pettigrew caught a 18-yard TD pass a play after tight end Tony Scheffler beat Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher for a 12-yard catch and got 15 more yards on a penalty after a helmet-to-helmet blow.
“Defensively we stink,” Urlacher said. “We can’t stop the run, we can’t stop the pass; we can’t stop the pass, we can’t stop the run. We’re all over the place.”
The Lions wound up with 181 rushing yards and Stafford had a 107.7 passer rating. Detroit has plenty of confidence in its wide receivers — particularly Johnson. However, the Lions have developed a multi-faceted offense and put all the different parts to use.
“Their defense made us earn everything we got tonight,” Smith said. “We can’t give up easy plays to them.”