Jeez this team just keeps finding new ways to rip your guts out doesn't it?
I don't believe there is another team in the NFL that could lose a game they didn't deserve to win on such an awful call. I've read the rule and the quotes from referee Gene Steratore and I'm still at a loss as to how you define "the process of the catch" so am equally at a loss to know when this process is considered completed. What I know is that at the time it happened it looked like a catch to not only me but the players on both teams, the commentators, the fans in the stands and, most importantly I believe, Side Judge Mike Weatherford. Mike Weatherford is the official the play happened in front of and the one raising his arms to signal touchdown and I think that should've been enough for the referee. But hey let's not dwell on this dumb call lest it obscures the previous 59+ minutes.
Going in to this season I would have said that if the Lions D could hold an opponent to less than 21 points then, given the strength of the offense, we should win the game. If Calvin's catch was ruled as a TD then we win 21-19 and head out of Chicago in black and white jumpers, a Robin style mask covering our eyes and a sack marked 'Swag' slung over our shoulder having left a note for the Bears saying "thanks for your help".
The Bears seemed capable of marching up and down the field at will, with our defense powerless to stop them, before perhaps thinking it was all too easy and giving us the ball. For most of the first half it was almost as if they didn't want to score and felt an obligation to the fans to keep the game interesting. I, along with many others, had low expectations for our defense and so wasn't surprised with how they performed. Lot's of heart and a disruptive front four doing it's best to prevent those behind them being exposed couldn't prevent 463 yards of Chicago offense with 362 of those yards coming through the air. Despite the way they were racking up the yards Chicago didn't look a good team and as we head in to the rest of the season we can't expect teams to throw chance after chance away like the Bears did.
If the defense performed as expected then the offense was anything but. It didn't help that the Jeff Backus brain went to the half time break a few minutes before his body and, more significantly, everyone else on the field. Matthew Stafford had looked boringly efficient throughout the half, more Montana than Elway if you like. We had efficiently managed to score 14 points having conceded just 3 and our young QB must have thought if he was to see the field again the first half it would be to take a knee or two then head to the locker rooms. The Bears remembered their mission was to keep the game interesting after receiving a holding call and facing a 1st and 20 at their own 11 yard line and reduced the deficit to 4 points. Stafford trotted out on to the field unaware the Backus brain was now in the locker and suddenly BOOM just like that Julius Peppers drills him to the ground and our star QB is now likely out until the team returns from its Bye Week to play the Redskins.
Backup QB Shaun Hill must've spent nearly the entire 2nd half wondering if the Backus brain had returned to the field with the Backus body because he seemed to want to get off the field pretty quickly. I was fearful that he would be introduced to the crowd at Ford Field next week as "Shaun '3 and out' Hill" until that last drive. He must have received assurances that the Backus brain and body had been reunited because suddenly the ball was flying through the air and our receivers were running, diving and catching (ok let's no got here again). Why we were unable to do this throughout the game, as were expected to, I do not know and can only hope that the final drive is the offense they carry into the Eagles game. My big offensive hope, Jahvid Best, scored two TD's and looked really good when he did so, unfortunately on the 12 other runs he had he most definitely did not look good. The much needed running game managed to average just under 1 yard per carry and with a stat like that you just have to move on.
So we have started the season 0-1 (what's new), our franchise QB faces a while on the sidelines with an injured shoulder and we have all spent the last 24 hours bemoaning an officials call that robbed us of the chance to steal a game from Chicago. But to be honest with you I'm glad, in a strange 'only a Lions fan could say that' kind of way, that we didn't win because having lived through an 0-16 season and so much ineptitude over the years I can take the losses so I want my victories, when they come, to be deserved not stolen.
Bring on the Eagles!!!
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