So now the Bears are no longer in first place, in fact they and Green Bay now trail Detroit by a game in the NFC North.The Bears had problems with Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford.The result was a franchise record for one of the NFL’s best wide receivers, and a tough loss for the Bears.Johnson caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Stafford with 2:22 to go, helping the Lions edge Jay Cutler and the Bears 21-19 on Sunday. Johnson also had a tiebreaking TD reception in the third quarter and Reggie Bush rushed for 105 yards as Detroit (6-3) swept the season series against the Bears (5-4) for the first time since the 2007 season. When Green Bay lost 27-13 to Philadelphia, the Lions were all alone in first in the division for the first time since the end of Week 5 of the 2005 season. Johnson’s ninth touchdown grab of the season was the 63rd of his career, breaking a tie with Herman Moore for the Detroit record. Moore still leads with 670 career receptions for the Lions, but Johnson might take that record down at some point, too. Cutler threw for 250 yards and a touchdown in his first action since he injured his groin last month. He injured his left ankle in the second quarter and looked progressively worse as the game wore on. Marc Trestman finally decided to put in Josh McCown before the Bears’ final drive.
“I didn’t want to take him out unless he felt he couldn’t do the job,” Trestman said. “It was, I thought, a very courageous performance throughout. Then at the end I took him out because I knew he would have to run around in the two-minute drill and that’s when we decided to put Josh in the game.”
McCown drove the Bears down the field, throwing an 11-yard touchdown pass to
Brandon Marshall with 40 seconds left. After a roughing penalty on Willie Young gave the Bears another chance at the tying 2-point conversion, Nick Fairley threw Matt Forte down in the backfield to preserve the win for Detroit. Stafford threw for 219 yards for Detroit, which has won two in a row for the first time since the end of September. Johnson had six catches for 83 yards.The Lions were clinging to a 14-10 lead when Chris Conte intercepted an overthrown ball by Stafford and returned it 35 yards to the Detroit 9. Forte then had a touchdown run negated by a holding penalty on left guard Matt Slauson and an apparent scoring pass to Alshon Jeffery was overturned when a replay showed he lost control of the ball when he hit the ground. Robbie Gould’s 32-yard field goal trimmed the Lions’ lead to one with 9:17 remaining, setting the stage for the frantic finish. It was Cutler’s first game since he was sacked by Redskins nose tackle Chris Baker in the first half of the Bears 45-41 loss at Washington on Oct. 20. He had to be helped off the field, and an MRI revealed a torn groin muscle that was expected to sideline the quarterback for at least four weeks.Cutler had other ideas. The Bears had a bye week after the Washington loss, and Cutler watched while McCown led the Bears to a big 27-20 victory at Green Bay last Monday. Cutler then was cleared to play on Thursday and made the start against Detroit with the Lions, Bears and Packers all tied for the NFC North lead entering the day.He insisted he was 100 percent, but it was clear his groin was bothering him more and more as the game wore on. He grabbed his groin area and dropped to the ground after one third-quarter throw. He then popped right back up and remained in the game.
“It held up OK. It’s all on the same leg so I think that was a problem,” said Cutler, referring the groin and ankle injuries. “But the groin, you take the ankle out of the equation and I would have been fine, I think.”
Cutler threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Marshall on the first drive of the game. But he also had a pass tipped by
Ndamukong Suh and grabbed by DeAndre Levy in the end zone for the linebacker’s fifth interception.
NOTES—The Bears host Baltimore for the first time since 2005 next Sunday….Levy began the day tied with seven other players for the NFL lead in interceptions…..Each team played without a key defensive end. Shea McClellin tweaked a hamstring during practice after he had three sacks in the victory at Green Bay and Detroit rookie Ziggy Ansah was out with a left ankle injury.