The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

Rick Gano / Associated Press
Posted: 2 minutes ago



CHICAGO (AP) - Finally, a road win for Detroit Lions.

Detroit ended its NFL-record 24-game streak of futility away from home Sunday, rallying to beat the mistake-prone Chicago Bears 20-16 in Lovie Smith's debut as head coach.
Bracy Walker, who earlier returned a blocked field goal 92 yards for a third-quarter TD, intercepted a third-down pass in the end zone by Rex Grossman with 18 seconds to go, preserving the win.


Bears RB Thomas Jones rushed for 66 yards and two TDs against the Lions. (Nam Y Huh / AP)

Joey Harrington tossed a 4-yard go-ahead pass to Az-Zahir Hakim in the fourth quarter and Detroit held on for its first road victory since beating the Jets on Dec. 17, 2000.

Eddie Drummond's 41-yard kickoff return and Harrington's 30-yard pass to Corey Schlesinger set up the touchdown pass to Hakim with 9:54 to go, putting Detroit ahead 20-14.

With 1:54 left, facing a difficult punt out of their end zone, the Lions chose to have punter Nick Harris run out of the end zone for a safety. It cut the lead to 20-16, but gave the Lions a free kick - a strategy that nearly backfired.

R.W. McQuarters returned the free kick 37 yards to the Detroit's 47 and Grossman's 19-yard pass to David Terrell and a 15-yard run by Thomas Jones got the Bears to the Lions 9.

With no timeouts, Grossman was sacked and then had to spike the ball on second down. Scrambling on third down, he threw the ball to the corner for Terrell, but Walker made the pick.

Jones' second 2-yard TD run, this one with 12:40 left , put the Bears up 14-13, a score set up by a roughing-the-passer penalty on James Davis.

Trailing at the half 7-3, Detroit took the lead when Shaun Rogers blocked Paul Edinger's 27-yard field goal attempt and Walker grabbed the ball, picked up some blockers and cut back across the field on the 92-yard return.

The Bears had three second-half turnovers and three big penalties, one on Terrell for taunting after he made a catch along the sideline and then handed the ball to Harris. Two more were for personal fouls, one on center Olin Kreutz and another on defensive back Charles Tillman for shoving a scrambling Harrington after he'd run out of bounds.

Leading 10-7, Harrington hit Kevin Jones on a 34-yard pass to the Chicago 6 and Jason Hanson kicked a 21-yard field goal.

Rookie Roy Williams' spectacular one-handed grab went for a 26-yard gain to the Bears 17 late in the second quarter. When McQuarters was called for pass interference on Williams in the end zone, Detroit had first down at the 1. But Kevin Jones' TD run was called back by holding on Schlesinger and the Lions settled for Hanson's 26-yard field goal with 16 seconds to go.

Grossman connected with Terrell on back-to-back passes of 30 and 27 yards to set up Thomas Jones' 2-yard TD run in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead.

The Lions lost Pro Bowl cornerback Dre' Bly in the first quarter to a knee injury of undetermined severity. Earlier, wide receiver Charles Rogers, who missed all but the first five games last season with a broken collarbone, left the game with a shoulder injury.

The game marked the return of former Bears coach Dick Jauron, who was fired in January after five seasons. He is now the Lions' defensive coordinator