By Mark Wilson
November 27, 2014

Let’s face it. The Lions had lost their giblets the past two weeks on the road.

Going west, they settled for two Matt Prater field goals in a 14-6 loss to Arizona. Going east, they settled for three Matt Prater field goals in a 34-9 rout by New England.

7-and-2 quickly became 7-and-4 with the 75th Thanksgiving Day game staring them straight in the gobbler.

Detroit could have easily continued the slide we have become so used too over all these decades.

Instead, they returned to Ford Field and hickory-smoked the Chicago Bears turkey to the holiday tune of 34-17.

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Well, he did earlier in the traditional Detroit Thanksgiving Day parade down Woodward.

When 12:30 hit, it was time for the Lions to provide a little Turkey Day magic. And, as we all know by now, they do NOT always provide magic on Turkey Day.

It all began in 1934 when then-Lions owner G.A. Richards wanted to get away from his family and out of the house so he created the game which NBC was happy to televise even if very few people OWNED television sets at that point.

Ok, maybe I embellish about why Richards actually started the tradition but I bet it’s pretty darn close.

The first opponent in 1934?

The Bears of George Halas.

I’m sure that Papa Bear wanted to snake away from HIS relatives so he had no problem making the trip to University of Detroit Field for that first affair.

Yes, at one time… U of D had a football stadium.

And a football TEAM too!

Oh, for the old days.

74 games later, it was the Lions and Bears again with a lot riding on the outcome.
Detroit needed to show it could find its giblets (call their manhood whatever you want) after those bad losses and Chicago wanted to continue a mini win streak.

The Bears had won their last two games by similar 21-13 scores over Minnesota and Tampa. They were breathing a little easier at 5-and-6.

Plus, the two hadn’t met on Thanksgiving in the 21st Century.

1999 was the last time they played the Thursday holiday game. In that span of 15 years, the Lions had met up with Green Bay SIX times including last year’s 40-10 Detroit blowout.

Prior to that, the Lions had lost nine straight on Turkey Day.

Nine in a row on the down side.

Thanks a lot, Millen!

Had to get the dig on Matt Millen in there somehow.

It sure didn’t look good when Jay Cutler came out throwing and the Bears led 14-3 after one quarter. Alshon Jeffery was the recipient of the two Cutler touchdown tosses.

The second quarter was a whole different animal for the home squad.

Calvin Johnson looked healthy and ready to rock when he grabbed a 25-yard TD pass from Matthew Stafford. It cut the lead to 14-10.

Joique Bell had a big day with Reggie Bush out.

The Wayne State wonder capped off a 10-play, 86 yard drive that took another four and a half minutes off the clock with a one yard touchdown.

It was the Lions first lead of the day.

It was a lead… they wouldn’t give up.

Right before the half, Stafford and Megatron hooked up again for six yards and it was 24-14 Lions.

The Bears were reeling on their sidelines.

Head Coach Marc Trestman’s seat is hot enough despite the two previous weeks. A flame out at Ford Field wasn’t going to sit well with the Bears’ maniacs. They already want him GONE.

I got to know Trestman a little when he was an assistant to Howard Schnellenberger at the University of Miami in the early 1980’s. Trestman tutored a young Bernie Kosar on the 1983 Hurricanes unit that won the NCAA national championship over Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.

He was a decent, cerebral man who took his football very seriously. I would give Trestman most of the credit for Kosar’s college and NFL success.

When Jimmy Johnson showed up in 1984 from Oklahoma State to replace Schnellenberger, he kept Trestman on the staff.

Marc left the following year to start his pro odyssey.

One of his many stops was right here in Motown. In 1997, he was hired by Bobby Ross to coach Lions’ quarterbacks; specifically Scott Mitchell.

Mitchell would have driven ANYONE crazy and Trestman left Detroit after just the one season.

This is only his second year coaching the Bears; his first NFL head coaching gig. Chicago tore him away from the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League.

So, he needs all the wins he can get.

If he made adjustments at halftime it sure didn’t show.

Teryl Austin’s defense played as well as it has in weeks. All the Bears got in the third quarter was a Robbie Gould field goal from 35 yards. It ended the longest streak without a FG for Chicago in since 1960.

Stafford continued to be efficient on offense.

He was quietly building one of his best games of his career.

Having set the record for fewest games by a QB to get to 20,000 yards… it was Calvin’s turn.

Mega went over the 10,000 yard mark receiving and he became the fastest to that number by an NFL receiver.

On the day, Johnson caught 11 passes for 146 yards and those two touchdowns.

Mel Tucker must have missed the memo. Or the text. Or the app.

Chicago’s much maligned defensive coordinator had no answer for Calvin. Johnson could have caught 20 passes.

Another LONG Lions drive ended with another Bell TD. This time it was a 12-play, 95 yards junket that crossed over from the third to the fourth quarter. Joique scored the six on the first play of the final 15 minutes.

It was 31-17 Lions.

Cutler threw a lot in the game; 48 pass attempts to be exact. He completed 31 of them.

The best defense against the run in the league showed why on Turkey Day.

Ndamukong Suh and crew can be proud of allowing only 13 rush yards. Big money Matt Forte had just SIX of them on five carries.

Speaking of “carries,” it was Ka’Deem Carey, who played his college ball at Arizona for our old pal Rich Rodriguez, leading the “charge” on the ground for Chicago.

Two carries, eight yards.

That’s it.

The Bears tried SEVEN running plays. Cutler got credit for an eighth but he doesn’t run so it doesn’t really count. Plus, he got a negative one yard out of it. He was sacked three times.

Trestman and offensive coordinator Aaron Kromer did all air work relying on Cutler to pull them through.

Brandon Marshall did not have a good day with his buddy Jay.

He caught six balls but for only 42 yards. Martellus Bennett was better with eight for 109 and Jeffery did have those two TD receptions.

Other than that, the Bears completely left their ground game in grandma’s cranberry sauce.

Austin’s run defense has gotten so good that the Bears figured… why bother?

Either way, it backfired on them because they could not control the line of scrimmage. The Lions had the football on offense for seven more minutes.

I’m not huge on time of possession and think it’s the most over-rated stat in all of sports.

In this case however, it worked to Detroit’s advantage.

With 6:16 to play, Prater kicked a 40-yard field goal to make it 34-17.

Cutler wanted to add a meaningless score to his ledger at the end.

Dominic Raiola might have been looking for someone to cut block when the Bears had one more chance with zero time left on the clock following a penalty. Dom got fined $10,000 by the league this week for doing just that last Sunday in Foxboro.

Raiola kept his cool in his team record-setting 200th start and Cutler fired toward the end zone only to be picked off by safety James Ihedigbo.

Game over. Lions win; doubling up the Bears 34-17.

They found their giblets.

Especially Stafford.

After not scoring a touchdown for more than two full games, the Lions put FOUR on the board.

Stafford went 34 of 45 for 390 yards, those two TD strikes to Calvin and NO interceptions.

On top of that, Matt engineered his 12th double-digit comeback victory which ranks him one behind Tom Brady since Stafford entered the league in 2009.

“Its execution, fundamentals and techniques,” said Lions’ coach Jim Caldwell at the podium after. “I think today they did a nice job in all those phases.”

“Just keep on pouring it on,” Johnson added.

It helps to “pour it on” when Bell rushes for 91 yards on 23 carries and two scores.

Bell looks better as a featured back every time Bush has to be inactive. Who knows when, or if, Reggie will ever be close to 100% the rest of 2014.

Odds are… he won’t be.

The Lions evened up their all-time Thanksgiving record vs. Chicago at 8-and-8. In fairness to the Bears and every other team that has played the Lions on the holiday, it is ALWAYS a road game for the opponent.

Detroit is now 35-38-and-2 on Turkey Day.

Not very good when you consider all 75 of those have been home games.

No gravy or pumpkin pie, but the Lions stay at Ford Field the next two weeks.

They’ve got Tampa and Minnesota coming in; the same two schlubs that Chicago beat before motoring into the Motor City.

The “keep pouring it on” that Johnson refers to is the Bucs and Vikings.

“Stay on the pedal,” is how Calvin finished that remark to the media.

Amazing how a Thanksgiving win can quiet the nay sayers. Last Monday, the wolves were out for Caldwell’s head but now the Lions are 8-and-4 and have an outstanding chance to be 10-and-4.

“We don’t pay much attention to the outside chatter,” Bell said to ESPN.

The outside chatter included the idea that if they didn’t knock off Chicago, the Lions could be looking at a horrifying collapse to rival any of the many collapses we’ve seen.

Now the two upcoming home tilts are important since those last two outdoor road games loom in the distance.

Detroit still has to go to Chicago’s Soldier Field in the dead of December and then to the one place that still has them baffled.

Green Bay in the even deader of December.

Who knows how frozen or if frozen or what frozen the frozen tundra will be three days after Christmas.

Wanna know why it seems like more often than not the Lions get a schedule that includes playing IN those two places come winter?

A guy familiar with how the NFL slate is produced once told me that it’s because… they WANT it that way.

Yeah, they WANT those cold possibly snow soaked contests in late December.

Would it make more sense to schedule two outdoor teams like the Bears and Packers earlier and let the Lions host late indoors?

Of course!

It’s almost like punishment to the Lions for having a beautiful air-controlled domed stadium. The theory being that since Chicago and Green Bay play outside more often, weather would be an advantage to them.

In the past, that’s been the case.

Most likely, it is a big reason why Detroit hasn’t won a game in Wisconsin since 1991.

Then again, it could just be that more often than not, the Lions just stink.

Brett Favre retired without ever losing a home game to the Honolulu Blue and Silver.

Favre lost plenty of games in the Silverdome and Ford Field but never at Lambeau Field.

That includes the 1994 NFC playoff game.

You remember that one.

Wayne Fontes had that Nanook of the North parka on and Barry Sanders rushed 13 times for minus-1 yard. Packers won 16-12.

Captain Wayne-O is still thawing out down in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

There is a way to avoid all that.

HOST a playoff game.

Not to get ahead here but the Lions haven’t done that since ’91.

It was the famous 38-6 bludgeon of the Dallas Cowboys at the Silverdome in front of 80,000 screaming meemies all with white pom pons.

That’s the year the Lions won ALL their home games; nine in total including the playoff game.

Sandwiched between 13 victories were two BRUTAL efforts against Washington. A 45-0 season opening dump at the old RFK and the 41-10 loss in the NFC Championship.

It really is the sole reason we don’t look back at the 1991 campaign with greater fondness.

Not to mention the fact it is the lone conference title game the Lions have appeared in since 1957.

Ugh. There’s 1957 again.

The last four games of 2014 could change it all.

As it stands, Caldwell has guaranteed Lions’ fans that they can do no worse than .500. It will be just the second time that has occurred since 2000.

Jim Schwartz did have the 10-and-6 mark in 2011 on his resume before being fired after last season.

So many scenarios, so little time.

Without question this dealio can blow up even if the Lions torch Tampa and Minnesota the next two weeks.

Imagine the reaction around here if Caldwell leads ‘em to TEN wins and there is no playoff berth?

Those would be some ugly giblets.

Green Bay has a humongous game against Tom Brady and the Patriots this Sunday. A loss ties the Packers with the Lions at 8-and-4. A win keeps them atop the NFC North at 9-and-3.

The game is at Lambeau and Aaron Rodgers is red hot.

So much football is yet to be played before we get to that pre-New Year’s clash where the Lions try and break the losing skid in Green Bay.

For now, the Lions have their giblets in working order and can enjoy a holiday weekend. They’ll be watching the Pats and the Pack while going to the fridge for something other than… leftover giblets.