The bizarro world Detroit Lions game ball goes to …

By Os Davis  |   Monday, October 01, 2007  |  Comments( 2 )

Detroit Lions
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Well, shut my mouth and color me Honolulu blue. Who have would thought the Detroit Lions were capable of amassing 34 points, even against a 'D' as decimated as that of the Chicago Bears on Sunday? And they did it in the fourth quarter alone? The record-breaking, 13-minute offensive display put the Lions at 3-1, a.k.a. sheer Bizarro universe territory. Is anyone else freaking out?

Leaving the heavy evaluation for how all this came to pass for later in the week -- the smart money is on an ancient alien conspiracy -- we'll brush pass the ado and present a few game balls for what may go down as the most important Detroit win this decade.

Offense. Who else but Jon Kitna, who put together the tightest stat line for a quarterback this week? Check it out: A sweet 20 of 24 for 247 yards, two TDs and zero interceptions. As for mastery of Mike Martz's pass-pass-pass offense, Kitna found seven different receivers, and Calvin Johnson took a DNP. With most of the Chicago secondary's first string out of the game before it began, big gains on completions were created, and Kitna was credited with four passes over 20 yards.

Finally, in the record-setting fourth quarter, Kitna went 7 of 8, tossing both of his TD strikes and a 49-yarder to Mike Furrey, Detroit's play of the game except maybe the bizarre onside kickoff. For a while, surely, Martz thought he saw Kurt Warner out there, except hindered with a much crummier offensive line. Game ball.

Defense. Though Keith Smith opened the floodgates for the Lions with the interception early in the fourth, Ernie Sims was a machine all day for the 'D'. His 11 tackles equaled Brian Urlacher for game-high and prevented many a gain after catch, while his heads-up pick in the third quarter inside the red zone saved all hope for Detroit after the disastrous sack and Kitna fumble. For pure stat points, Sims was even credited with a forced fumble on Cedric Benson in the second. Game ball. And throw one Smith's way, too: On a Monday like this, the Lions can afford to be generous.

Special teams. Because the Lions' specialists could do little against Devin Hester - And who can, really? - and that nothing spectacular happened on returns, we're going to go with Casey Fitzsimmons here. The TE hasn't played a full season since 2004, and he hasn't scored a touchdown since '05, but he reentered the stat page on Sunday. Fitzsimmons' great runback on the last-minute onside kick put the 2007 Lions in the record books, not to mention turned one of the game's most futile and rote plays interesting. Game ball.

Special mention should go to essentially every player on the Lions; these guys, despite being on the wrong end of what seemed for 47 minutes like another ho-hum loss, never gave up and ultimately wore down the depleted Bears in the fourth.

And a game ball for Motor City fans, too, who go into Week 5. with warm optimism. Crazy ...

Breaking records all year-round at RealFootball365.com
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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