From: tony@ais.org (Tony Poole)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro
Subject: Lions fall, dammit
Keywords: ugh
Date: 7 Sep 92 05:30:06 GMT
Followup-To: rec.sport.football.pro
Distribution: na
Organization: University of Michigan Computing Club (UMCC)


[reposted without permission - sent to me via mail]

	CHICAGO -- Tom Waddle became the Chicago Bears' answer to Steve
Largent and Fred Biletnikoff last season and the hard-nosed wide
receiver began 1992 in the same clutch fashion.
	Jim Harbaugh hit Waddle with a 6-yard touchdown strike with one
second remaining Sunday to rally the Bears to a 27-24 triumph over the
Detroit Lions.
	``It's just called '13 wing,''' Waddle said of the final play. ``I'm
the wing and I'm supposed to get open. Great way to start the season.''
	The touchdown capped a 9-play, 74-yard drive that took 64 seconds and
extended the Bears' opening-day victory streak to nine, currently the
longest in the NFL.
	``I just thought that if it came to me, I owed 47 guys in the locker
room a catch,'' said Waddle, who caught the ball with his knees on the
grass and safety Harry Colon on his back. ``It was not my best day. I
don't take any credit for this.''
	Waddle, who did drop at least one catchable ball early, caught only
two passes on the day for nine yards. Harbaugh gave his favorite target
credit anyway.
	``Tom Waddle is probably the best pressure receiver in the NFL today.
I'm going to say that right now,'' Harbaugh said. ``Nobody's better
under pressure than No. 87.''
	The Lions had taken a 24-20 lead with 1:12 left when Rodney Peete hit
Willie Green on a 27-yard touchdown pass. But Harbaugh spearheaded the
final drive, completing 5 of 7 passes, including a 20-yarder to Wendell
Davis.
	The Bears moved the ball to the 6-yard line and faced a fourth-and-5
when Harbaugh dropped back and hit Waddle over the middle just inside
the goal line for the game winner.
	``That's the same play we beat New Orleans on last year,'' Harbaugh
said. ``It's a bread and butter play for us.''
	Harbaugh hit 19 of 30 passes for 227 yards and two touchdowns. Neal
Anderson scored twice for Chicago.
	For the NFC Central defending champion Lions, Peete completed 18 of
26 passes for 273 yards and had two touchdowns and one interception. He
was sacked five times, however, for 40 yards.
	Barry Sanders carried 19 times for 109 yards, including a 43-yard
touchdown.
	``We've got to make the big plays,'' Lions Coach Wayne Fontes said. 
``I'll lose a lot of sleep over it.''
	The score was tied 10-10 at halftime and remained that way through
three quarters. Chicago's Kevin Butler missed a chance to put the Bears
back in front 50 seconds into the fourth quarter when he pushed a 41-
yard field goal wide right.
	Sanders then struck on the next possession. He broke loose for a 17-
yard gain on his first carry of the drive, then rushed for two short
gains. On a second-and-8, the elusive running back took a handoff off
right tackle, broke a tackle near the line of scrimmage and spun out of
the arms of linebacker John Roper before sprinting off toward the end
zone for his 43-yard touchdown and a 17-10 lead with 9:56 remaining.
	The touchdown was the 48th of Sanders' career and broke Billy Sims'
club record.
	``When you give the ball to Barry Sanders enough, which we're going
to do, he's going to break one,'' Fontes said.
	Butler connected from 38 yards with seven minutes left to draw the
Bears within 17-13, and Anderson's 18-yard touchdown run put Chicago
back in front 20-17.
	Peete then drove the Lions back in Chicago territory, hitting Green
on a 44-yard pass to move the ball to the 29. Two plays later, Peete hit
Green alone on the right side and he sprinted in for a 24-20 lead and
what appeared to be the game winner.
	``We got beat by a better team,'' Fontes said. ``That's one of 16 --
15 more to go.''
	The only bad news for Chicago came afterward, when it was learned
that special teams expert Glen Kozlowski suffered a right knee injury
that would put him out of action for at least six weeks.
	The Bears marched 68 yards on the opening possession of the game,
capped by Harbaugh's 5-yard pass to Anderson for a 7-0 lead.
	They extended the margin to 10-0 on Butler's 34-yard field goal 52
seconds into the second quarter. Lemuel Stinson provided the Bears with
the prime field position four plays earlier, picking off a Peete pass
and returning it 46 yards to the Detroit 21-yard line.
	The Lions turned it around just 1:02 later when Peete hooked up with
Brett Perriman on a 40-yard touchdown strike. Detroit rookie Jason
Hanson tied it 10-10 by connecting on a 38-yard field goal with 14
seconds left in the first half.

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Tony Poole                       tony@umcc.ais.org * tony@irie.ais.org 
Traverse City, MI USA          tony@cherry1.trv.mi.us * tony@cherry1.UUCP