The regular season finale, at least for the hapless Detroit Lions, will happen this Sunday at Ford Field, when they host the Chicago Bears. Detroit doesn't have much to play for, except maybe pride, but even that seemed to have been fed into a wood chipper when they got blown out by New Orleans last year in a playoff game. They've been slip-sliding away into oblivion ever since. Look at the standings in the NFL. The only two teams in the entire league with worse records than the Lions are the KC Chiefs and the Jax Jaguars. That's it.
At least the Bears have something to play for. Theoretically, they still have an outside chance of making the playoffs, but they don't completely control their own destiny. Obviously, they would have to beat the Lions, and then hope a couple other things around the league turned out in their favor. Chances may be slim of all that happening, but you never know. It's possible, but the first order of business for Da Bears is to win in Detroit. Last time I looked the Bears were a 3 point favorite. Sounds about right.
But there will be a game within the game that could get interesting. As everybody knows, Calvin Johnson, aka Megatron, broke Jerry Rice's all-time single-season record for most receiving yards last week while the Lions were being otherwise trashed by the Atlanta Falcons.
Having already surpassed Rice, Johnson needs 108 receiving yards against the Bears to reach the 2000 yard plateau. Sounds easy enough, right?
Not so fast. The last time the Lions played the Bears, back on October 22, a cornerback by the name of Charles Tillman pretty much took on Johnson head-up. Man to man. Tillman didn't play "soft" like so many others have tried, while ceding small to medium chunks of yardage, to prevent a big play. Rather, he was up in Johnson's face playing him very physically all game long and -- shut him down. Johnson wound up with a grand total of 3 catches for 34 yards. The Lions only managed to score 7 points in that game, likely largely in part to Tillman single-handedly taking away their #1 offensive weapon, while freeing up some of his defensive teammates to concentrate elsewhere. Sure, that was then, and this is now a couple months later. Things have changed. Or have they?
True, Tillman isn't regarded as being in the same lofty atmosphere that Johnson is. After all, defensive backs don't get the media and fan attention wide receivers do, anymore then offensive linemen will get the same over their defensive counterparts. Right or wrong, that's just the way it is. Yet, there are times when a certain player, even though he's supposedly going up against superior competition -- just seems to have the other guy's "number". It defies the odds and there's really no rational explanation for it, but it's happened a lot over the years in various sports.
So will the Megatron catch a slew of passes, run wild, and easily surpass the 2000 yard mark, to the delight of Detroit fans? Or will Tillman throw a ball and chain on him like he did the last time?
Who knows? As is often said -- that's why they play the games.
Most of the attention will be focused on Johnson, of course. If he gets past the two millennia milestone, the scribes and talking heads will rant and rave for weeks. Yet, if Tillman shuts him down again, he'll be lucky to get his 15 seconds, let alone 15 minutes of fame/credit. And so it goes.
Yours truly will be watching that particular match-up, though.......
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