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Detroit Lions beat Chicago Bears 37-27 in NFL Week 4

Posted by Kevin Mack

October 1, 2007 |

  • Detroit Lions are 3-1 after 37-27 Week 4 victory over Chicago Bears

In what Detroit Lions Coach Rod Marinelli said was an ugly game just like him, the Detroit Lions beat the Chicago Bears 37-27. Mistakes ruled the day. Nine fumbles, three interceptions, twenty three penalties for 161 yards, five total turnovers with one being returned for a touchdown, two field goal attempts and an extra point attempt blocked. The game included each team recording six sacks and hardly any running ability at all. Many replays reviews by the Officials including one perplexing one that gave the ball back to the Bears, after it appeared the Lions had recovered a fumble. This happened on a play when a deflected pass by Bear QB Brian Griese was caught by a Bears lineman and fumbled. The Officials ruled it was a fumble not a pass and as such, being that late in the game a recovered fumble by the offense can not be advanced so the fumble by the lineman didn’t happen. The Bears scored a TD shortly after to cut the Lions lead to only 3 with less than a minute to play.

Detroit set an NFL record for most points in the 4th quarter with 34. Both teams combined for a 4th quarter record for points with 48. Put another way  7 touchdowns and 6 extra points. The 4th period took over an hour to complete.

Chicago was crippled with injuries and by the 2nd half had only 4 healthy defensive backs and could not employ the nickle defense against Detroit’s passing game.

Photo Source: Detroit Free Press Devin HesterDevin Hester was spectacular returning kickoffs and punts. He had a TD on a kickoff return and averaged over 31.3 yards on 7 kickoff returns. Hester had 5 punt returns averaging 19.0 yards per. The last few times the Lions Kicked off they resorted to squib kicks to let the ball roll all the way to Hester to allow the coverage units a better chance to corral Hester. Hester provided the Bears good field position after every kick or punt.  

Chicago led 13-3 to start the 4th quarter. Detroit ended the 3rd quarter on a long drive and were down to the Bears 4 yard line to start the 4th quarter. Here is how the teams piled up 48 points in a record 4th quarter.

  • Detroit -  14:56 Jon Kitna 4 yard pass to Shaun McDonald, kick good 13-10 Bears
  • Detroit -  13:14 Keith Smith returns an interception 64 yards, kick good 17-13 Lions
  • Chicago - 12:57 Devin Hester 97 yard Kick off return, kick good 20-17 Bears
  • Detroit -  10:06 Jon Kitna 15 yard pass to Troy Walters, kick good 24-20 Lions
  • Detroit - 3:34 Kevin Jones 5 yard run, kick blocked 30-20 Lions
  • Chicago - 0:52 Brian Griese 1 yard pass to Desmond Clark, kick good 30-27 Lions
  • Detroit - 0:45 Casey Fitzsimmons 41 yard onside kick off return, kick good 37-27 Lions 

Check back tomorrow to see the complete recap of the game including the stat rundown.

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Comments

4 Comments so far

  1. Pat on October 1, 2007 3:57 pm

    What a crazy game, and a crazy week in the NFL. Apparently, Brian Westbrook is the MVP. The Eagles score 56 with him and 3 without him.

  2. Michael Keating on October 1, 2007 8:25 pm

    Pat, thanks for the comment. I fear the giants coming to detroit, they will probably get 20 sacks against the lions. But they are 3 and 1. Cardinals looked good.

  3. Graham on October 1, 2007 11:36 pm

    Mike, Rod was right, it was ugly. But unlike the past which would have been an ugly loss, they at least found a way to win an ugly game. I’ll take 3-1, but i’m not feeling good heading to Washington, where they haven’t won since when …. Oh and can you help me understand why for 3 Qtrs Mike M felt the need to run against the bears defense, who were hurting in the secondary, and we managed 3 points. Guess it was a setup for that record breaking 4Q comeback.

  4. Michael Keating on October 2, 2007 9:31 am

    Graham, thanks for the comment. Marinelli said at the news conference that they ran in an attempt to keep Kitna from getting sacked but they were not successful running or preventing sacks. I find it intriguing that fans are all excited again about the Lions after last week when they were ready to run everybody out of town. Such is the life of a Lion fan. Can’t wait to see the reaction win or lose this week in Washington. Can’t see them winning in D.C.

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