Lions self-destruct in second half

The audio inside Matthew Stafford's football helmet kept breaking up.

"It wasn't that big of a deal," assured the Lions' rookie quarterback and No. 1 overall draft pick out of Georgia, who wound up switching helmets. "I got a little exercise out of it (running over to the sideline to get plays)."

If Stafford's faulty-wired helmet didn't make the Lions want to give themselves a smack to the head, their play on the field in the second half surely did.

Tied with the Bears at 21-21 at halftime at Soldier Field on Sunday, the Lions surrendered 13 unanswered points on a touchdown and 2 field goals and wound up losing 48-24.

So much for a possible two-game winning streak for the Lions, who won the previous week for the first time since 2007.

The Bears' Johnny Knox returned the second-half kickoff 102 yards for a touchdown and it didn't get much better for Detroit. In the third quarter, the Lions mustered minus-3 yards of offense and no first downs in four possessions.

Stafford also fumbled the ball away after being stripped by defensive tackle Israel Idonije. That led to a 22-yard field goal by Robbie Gould that padded the Bears' cushion to 34-21 with 2:33 left in the third.

"One of the worst second halves of football I've ever been associated with," Lions first-year coach Jim Schwartz said. "We were poor on special teams, we were poor on offense, we were poor on defense. We were out-coached, we were outplayed. Their trainers were probably even better than ours in the second half."

The Lions boast one of the game's best wide receivers in Calvin Johnson, and the 6-foot-5, 236-pounder looked unstoppable in the first half, catching 5 passes for 119 yards.

In the second half, the Bears gave their cornerbacks safety help, and Johnson was almost a nonfactor before getting hurt and leaving the game.

"I landed on my shoulder," said Johnson, who finished with 8 catches for 133 yards. "That's fine."

Johnson's legs were also giving him a problem. He tried to loosen up on the sideline to get back in the game but couldn't do so. In the locker room after the game, he was moving slowly.

"My legs tightened up or whatever," he said. "I'll be all right, though."

Schwartz credited the Bears for making adjustments that limited his team to 75 passing yards in the second half after Stafford aired it out for 221 yards in the first.

"They had to put the fire out with Calvin," Schwartz said. "We passed for a lot of yards in the first half. We were moving the ball very well. They were able to take those deep shots away with Cover-2, and we were never able to consistently either get short passes or run the ball."

"They made great adjustments," Johnson said of the Bears. "Obviously, we didn't do the same."