Thursday 27 November 2014 22:25, UK
The Detroit Lions bounced back from back-to-back defeats as they came from behind to claim a comfortable 34-17 Thanksgiving Day victory over the Chicago Bears.
The Bears bounced out to a 14-3 lead in the first quarter thanks to two touchdowns from Alshon Jeffery against just one Matt Prater field goal.
Detroit’s offence had been stuttering in their recent losses, and after the first quarter they had gone 25 possessions without scoring a touchdown, but they then remedied that in some style by grabbing three on their next three drives.
Calvin Johnson caught a 25-yard pass from Matt Stafford, before Joique Bell dived over the pile from one yard out and just about crossed the goal line by the smallest of margins.
It was a brave call from coach Jim Caldwell to go for the touchdown on a fourth-and-one, but it paid off as it really gave the entire Detroit team a big lift.
Johnson then caught his second TD of the game with a six-yarder from Stafford, who posted his second-best yardage in the first half with 275, while 'Megatron' Johnson became the fastest player to reach 10,000 receiving yards as he eclipsed the mark in his 115th game.
Robbie Gould replied with a field goal but the Bears could not really get anything else moving, while the Lions kept rolling and Bell scored his second TD as he wandered into the end zone from a yard completely untouched.
Another Prater field goal added a further three points after Cutler was intercepted going for a risky throw to Brandon Marshall in double coverage.
Cutler finished with 280 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions but he and his Chicago offence will face more inquests after their latest loss dropped them to 5-7 and struggling to get involved in the playoff race.
It’s a bounce-back win for Detroit though that puts them right back in the shake-up at 8-4 and importantly got their offence back firing heading into the crunch part of the season.
Stafford went for 390 yards and two touchdowns, both to Johnson who had 146 yards receiving, while Bell ran for 91 yards and two scores in a balanced scoring offence.
"We had a good attention to detail this week and everything we learned on the practice field we brought out to the game field tonight," said Johnson after the game.
"I feel great, to get us going get us back in sync we really had a great game today. Matt trusts us to go out there and make a play so he puts the ball up there for us and you’ve got to admire him for that."
