Lions sign first 5-0 start since 1956 against Bears

Detroit celebrated its first Monday Night Football in a decade big time with a 24-13 win over Chicago, and along the defending champions Green Bay Packers are the only undefeated teams in the season. More than a decade had gone by since the last time that the Detroit Lions disputed Monday Night Football at home. It was back in 1998 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, when they still played at the Silver Dome, during Jason Hanson’s 100th game, which was celebrated with a victory. 13 years later the Lions were on primetime again, and coincidence or not Hanson had the chance to sign another big number in his career with his 300th game, this time against the defending NFC North champions and division rivals Chicago Bears. Motivated with the great start of their team, which marched unbeaten after four weeks and needed only one more clinch their fourth 5-0 start in franchise history (1956, 1934, 1931), the fans showed their support with an attendance record of 67,861 people for a Lions game. Only Super Bowl XL had brought more fans into a football game disputed at Ford Field with 68,206. Nothing less than a loud crowd was expected from that scenario, which was going to become a big distraction for the Bears, that just in the first half committed six o their nine false starts penalties of the night, which set an NFL season-high for a game. After a first quarter in blank in the second one the score was finally going to be inaugurated through a 73-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford to Calvin Johnson, who scored his ninth TD pass of the season, which brings him closer to Randy Moss’ NFL single season record of 23 TD receptions in 2007. At 8:18 a 44 yard field goal from Robbie Gould gave the Bears their first three points of the night, which were increased to 10 when Jay Cutler connected a 9 yard TD pass with Kellen Davis in the epilogue of the first half. Chicago was now up by 10-7 before the break, which momentarily quieted the fans. But that silence didn’t last too long, since at 9:55 in the third quarter Stafford threw his second TD pass of the night, caught by Brandon Pettigrew for an 18-yard score that put the Lions ahead on the score again, 14-10. That four-point lead was going to be stretched to 11 through Jahvid Best, who starred the second-longest run in franchise history with an 88-yard TD. A response from Chicago didn’t take place in the fourth quarter, where only Gould was able to score with a 49 yard field goal late in the game to reduce the deficit to eight points, until Jason Hanson put the Lions ahead by 11 points again through a 31 yard field goal that secured the 24-13 victory. With this result the Lions are tied in first place of the NFC North standings with the defending champions Green Bay Packers, and are also the only two teams that are still undefeated after five weeks. As for the 2-3 Bears that loss marked their worst start since 2007.