The Bears didn’t dump Paul Edinger to see him kick a 56-yard field goal while his replacement, Robbie Gould, misses a 47-yarder.
The Bears finished last in the league in field-goal percentage last season, prompting them to unload Edinger. With Gould and predecessor Doug Brien, the Bears still are last.
On a team that counts on defense in a league with more close games than ever, poor field-goal kicking is unbearable.
The kick by the Vikings’ Edinger to beat Green Bay was one of nine field goals of 50 yards or longer in the NFL last Sunday. Seattle’s Josh Brown kicked two against Dallas, a 55-yarder and a 50-yard game-winner as time expired. Philadelphia won when it blocked a late field goal and returned it for a touchdown.
Kicking is more important than ever as parity continues to flatten NFL teams. In 1970, just 18.7 percent of games were decided by three points or fewer. Since 1999, it’s 24.5 percent, including 23.8 percent last season.
The Bears have lost a two-point game and won a four-pointer. The Lions have lost a four-pointer and a one-pointer and won a three-pointer. The Bears are 0-3 at Ford Field, losing by three points, two and six. With veteran kicker Jason Hanson, the Lions are three-point favorites Sunday.
All three of New England’s Super Bowl victories the last four seasons have been by three points. Two came on last-second field goals by Adam Vinatieri.
Yet Gould ranks 32nd in field-goal percentage with his 2-for-4 start. The out-of-work Brien ranks 34th at 1-for-4.
The Bears lead the league in red-zone defense, having given up only one touchdown in 13 enemy possessions. That’s 7.7 percent, far ahead of second-place Dallas at 35.3 percent. That means opponents are being forced to settle for field goals, a good thing.
On offense, the Bears are ranked second in red-zone touchdowns, scoring nine in 13 trips. As long as that continues, a reliable field-goal kicker isn’t so vital.
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What rivalry?
Since the Bears and Lions have played each other 151 times, you would think there would have been many memorable and meaningful games.
Think again. The teams have played in the same conference or division since the Lions moved to Detroit from Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1934. But they have finished 1-2 in the standings only four times: 1934, 1954, 1956 and 1991.
The book on Bears-Lions lore is a one-page thriller, starting Dec. 2, 1956, in Detroit when Bobby Layne threw two touchdown passes, ran for one and kicked six extra points in a 42-10 win. It put the 8-2 Lions ahead of the 7-2-1 Bears and caused George Halas to continue kicking himself for getting rid of Layne in 1949.
After the teams won the following week, they played for the Western Conference championship in Wrigley Field on Dec. 16 in their single most memorable confrontation. Halas was not the head coach at the time, having handed off to Paddy Driscoll for two seasons–but there was evidence he still was calling the shots.
The Bears won the rematch 38-21 when defensive end Ed Meadows knocked Layne out, causing Lions coach Buddy Parker to complain to Commissioner Bert Bell.
Bears Hall of Famer George Connor, an assistant coach at the time, told Jeff Davis for his recent book “Papa Bear”: “Meadows was no good–not a good football player, not a good person.”
But Connor denied the hit was planned, saying, “Halas never ordered anybody to get anybody.”
In a sure sign of how times have changed, Bell ignored the Lions’ complaints and said: “What do they want those tacklers to do? Just watch those quarterbacks.”
A half-century later, that’s pretty much what the league wants, as Baltimore Ravens pass rusher Terrell Suggs discovered last week when he pushed the Bears’ Kyle Orton and drew an unnecessary-roughness penalty.
The Bears of 1956, by the way, lost the title game to the Eastern Conference champion New York Giants 47-7, spoiling great seasons by league-leading passer Ed Brown, fullback Rick Casares and receiver Harlon Hill. The Lions won it all in 1957 and have not since.
The teams split their games in 1991, when the 12-4 Lions edged the 11-5 Bears in the standings. That was the year Lions coach Wayne Fontes lit a victory cigar while the Bears were getting pounded by San Francisco 52-14 in a Monday night season finale.
Neither Bears-Lions game that year was a classic. Neal Anderson outrushed Barry Sanders at home and Sanders returned the favor in Detroit, although neither gained 100 yards. Likewise, Jim Harbaugh outpassed Erik Kramer (then with the Lions) at home, and Kramer won in Detroit when Harbaugh threw four interceptions. Coach Mike Ditka might have been upset.
The most dramatic game was Thanksgiving 1980, when the Bears’ Dave Williams returned the overtime kickoff for a touchdown. The Bears, however, were 4-8 at the time, the Lions 7-5.
Old runners
Kansas City’s Priest Holmes, 32, is thriving in the rotation with Larry Johnson in which Holmes plays two series, Johnson one.
“The rotation, I love it,” Holmes said. “One of the things I can always tell any running back is to be careful for what you ask for. To be a starter at that position in this league means a whole lot.
“There are a lot of sacrifices on your body. For anyone to come in and bring up the idea of switching out, I love it. I really do.”
Holmes has finished two of the last three seasons on injured reserve.
Dillon not old
New England’s Corey Dillon turned 31 on Oct. 24 and still is declining most interview requests after reading a story about the declining effectiveness of running backs older than 30.
Asked what he did during the Patriots’ week off, Dillon said: “I took a stroll with my walker. My family walked me out in the park. We fed the pigeons. After 10 minutes they thought that was enough for me and took me back inside. It was kind of cold. My bones was aching. So that was my birthday.”
Griese perspective
Tampa Bay quarterback Brian Griese, out for the season with a knee injury, said his trip to the hospital while still in uniform opened his eyes.
“I went from the stage that everybody wants to be on, Sunday afternoon playing professional football, to the emergency room where there are people lying in the hallways and people who probably won’t get out of the emergency room,” Greise said. “And they were wishing me well.
“It gave me perspective. You know what? I have a knee injury. It will heal; I’ll be fine. I’ll be able to come back and play on that field again. . . . So I felt sorry for myself for about five minutes on that ride, but after that I can’t realistically feel sorry for myself.”
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Cards in Dallas
This is Arizona’s first trip to Dallas since a 24-7 loss in 2003 when ex-Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith ran six times for minus-1 yard.
Then-Arizona quarterback Jeff Blake, now with the Bears, said, “I’m dummified, and I’m no dummy.”
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