SMACKDOWN: Garcia lets one get away in OT; Bears score on pick

You could see the pain in Jeff Garcia.

His left leg, because of the fracture he had suffered eight weeks before, was padded and wrapped. His right leg, because of the beating he had taken all afternoon, was scraped and bloody. His eyes, because of the big mistake he had just made, were red and watery.

"Just trying to make a play," Garcia said Sunday, standing at a lectern after the Lions' 19-13 overtime loss to Chicago at Ford Field. "I know from experience not to throw the ball across the field while I'm rolling one way or the other. It's just looking for bad things to happen."
After erasing a 10-point second-half deficit, the Lions found themselves with a third-and-five at their own 18 more than six minutes into overtime.

Garcia dropped back, rolled to his right and threw the ball across the middle for wide receiver Mike Williams -- only to have Chicago cornerback Charles Tillman cut in front of Williams, intercept the pass, return it 22 yards into the end zone and hurt the Lions' chances to host a playoff game the season the Super Bowl will be played on their home turf.

The Bears sit atop the NFC North at 4-3. The Lions are 3-4, but they're practically two games behind, because the first tiebreaker is head-to-head, and they've lost both of their games against Chicago. The Bears beat them, 38-6, on Sept. 18.

"It's disappointing," Garcia said. "It's an emotional game. It's one thing where you battle for 60-plus minutes and it kind of falls on your shoulders to make a play. Just didn't make the right decision, and so I take that hard, I take the personally. It's just something that you learn from and you move on, but right now it hurts."

Garcia, who suffered a fractured left fibula and sprained left ankle in the exhibition finale Sept. 2 at Buffalo, replaced Joey Harrington as the Lions' starting quarterback last week at Cleveland. His health didn't seem to limit him in that game, and his improvisations helped the Lions to a 13-10 victory.

This time, against a better and tougher defense, it was a different story for Garcia, who was 23-for-35 for 197 yards, no TDs and a 68.4 passer rating.

He took a hit on the Lions' second play from scrimmage and came up limping. It wasn't the last time. He took a helmet-to-helmet shot from defensive tackle Tommie Harris in the third quarter.

"Several different times, I asked him, 'How are you doing?' " coach Steve Mariucci said. "I said, 'If you get to a point where you feel sore enough where you're not functional like we need you to be, you make sure you tell me.' He said, 'I will.' "

Garcia said he didn't have the mobility he had last week, but he decided to stay in the game. Asked about Garcia's status for next week's game at Minnesota, Mariucci said: "We'll see. We'll see how sore he is and how functional we think he can be."

A Garcia gamble cost the Lions the game in overtime, and another almost cost them the game in the fourth quarter.

With the game tied at 13 and the Lions starting a drive at their own 28, Chicago linebacker Brian Urlacher came in on a delayed blitz. Garcia sort of backhanded the ball toward the left sideline.
Linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer scooped up the ball and ran it into the end zone. After a lengthy delay, it was ruled an incomplete pass and Garcia was called for intentional grounding.
"I need to be able to accept that there's an end to the play sometimes, and that I can't always find ways to make plays and create and just take the sack and move on to the next play," Garcia said.

The Lions had the bulk of the possession time in the first quarter, but they took only a 3-0 lead. Jason Hanson missed a 46-yard field-goal attempt to end their first drive, then made a 32-yarder to end their second.

The Bears took a 13-3 lead in the second quarter. After narrowly avoiding a safety, the Bears drove 99 yards finishing with a 23-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kyle Orton to wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad. Then Robbie Gould kicked field goals of 38 and 20 yards.
Running back Kevin Jones cut the Bears' lead to 13-10 with a six-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. The touchdown was just the Lions' second on offense in 11 quarters, and the 85-yard drive was their longest for a touchdown this season.

Hanson tied the game with a 30-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. The Lions were at the Chicago 37 late in regulation, but Garcia took a sack on second down that pushed them out of field-goal range and couldn't complete a pass on third down.

The Lions won the toss and started overtime with the ball, but they went three-and-out. It looked like the Lions were going to get lucky, because Orton overthrew Muhammad when a completion would have put the Bears into field-goal range, and Chicago ended up punting.
But then came Garcia's interception.

"To just give it away so easily at the end, it's a major disappointment," Garcia said. "But it's a long season, and we need to regroup, and I'll regroup."

Contact NICHOLAS J. COTSONIKA at 313-222-8831 or cotsonika@freepress.com.
Quarterback Jeff Garcia shovels a pass to Shawn Bryson before he's dragged down by Bears cornerback Charles Tillman in the fourth quarter Sunday. -->
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