Bears struggle past Lions

The Chicago Bears got their 2010 campaign off to a winning start after an unconvincing win over the Detroit Lions at Soldier Field on Sunday. Bears coach Lovie Smith was left scrtatching his head after his team dominated the offensive statistics, but only claimed the win on the back of a Tommie Smith interceptions late in the fourth quarter.

After the early exchanges, The Bears registered the first points of the game when Robbie Gould kick the Field Goal from 34 yards, his first of four kicks on the day. Soldier Field then fell silent as Sammie Hill hit Bears QB Jay Cutler, forcing the fumble and romping home from 44 yards to claim his first ever NFL touchdown. A field Goal apiece meant the Lions led 10 - 6 at the half.

If the Bears fans thought things couldn't get any worse, they were in for a rude awakening, as Javed Best extended the Lions lead midway through the third quarter, ploughing through a static Bears defence to score form 9yds out. The Bears tried in vain to penetrate the Lions Red Zone defence, but were forced to settle for field goals twice, before Smith snagged the deflected pass and stole the game.

NFL Scoreboard - Detroit Lions (0-1) at Chicago Bears (1-0)

September 12, 2010 1 2 3 4 F Detroit Lions 0 10 7 0 17 Chicago Bears 3 3 3 9 18 Top Performers Detroit Lions - Stats J Best 212yds 4.3avg 1TD Z Follett 6Tkl 1 Int 1TD Chicago Bears - Stats J Cutler 25-41 Att, 256yds, 1 Int T Harris 3 Tkl, 1 sack, 1 Int	Team Stats Comparison DET CHI First Downs 10 16 3rd Down Efficiency 1-10 9-19 4th Down Efficiency 0-1 0-0 Total Yards 356 427 Passing Yards 206 234 Rushing Yards 52 81 Penalties-Penalty Yards 0-0 2-45 Turnovers 1 1 Time of Possession 20:04 39:56
Scoring Summary First Quarter DET CHI CHI 02:21 R Gould 34yd FG 0 3 Second Quarter DET CHI DET 11:19 S Hill Ret Fumble 44yds (J Hanson kick) 7 3 CHI 03:50 R Gould 43yd FG 7 6 DET 00:46 J Hanson 50yd FG 10 6 Third Quarter DET CHI DET 06:33 J Best 9yd run (J Hanson kick) 17 6 CHI 00:00 R Gould 35yd FG 17 9 Fourth Quarter DET CHI CHI 06:35 R Gould 18yd FG 17 12 CHI 06:26 T Harris Ret Int 18yds (2 pt conv failed) 17 18
Detroit Lions Passing C/ATT YDS TD INT M Stafford 20-33 212 0 0 Rushing ATT YDS AVG TD J Best 12 52 4.3 1 Receiving REC YDS AVG TD B Johnson 11 119 10.8 0 C Johnson Jr 3 72 24.0 0 D Pettigrew 2 14 7.0 0 Defense TKL SACK INT TD C Brown 6 0 0 0 Z Follett 6 0 1 0 C Avril 4 1 0 0 S Hill 2 0 0 1 Kicking FGM/A XPM/A PTS LONG J Hanson 1-2 1-1 4 50 Chicago Bears Passing C/ATT YDS TD INT J Cutler 25-41 256 0 1 Rushing ATT YDS AVG TD M Forte 26 83 3.1 0 Receiving REC YDS AVG TD J Knox 6 78 13.0 0 D Hester 5 41 8.2 0 D Armoashodu 5 45 9.0 0 M Forte 5 23 4.6 0 Defense TKL SACK INT TD Z Bowman 6 0 0 0 T Harris 3 1 1 1 B Urlacher 5 1 0 0 Kicking FGM/A XPM/A PTS LONG R Gould 4-4 0-0 12 43

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