Bears defense collapses in fourth quarter

For three quarters, the members of the Bears defensive front played Sunday like they believed the game rested on their performance.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Yeah, definitely," said Adewale Ogunleye, mindful of the injuries that left the Bears without their Opening Day starters at both safety, both cornerback and one linebacker positions -- not to mention one defensive tackle.

<p class="MsoNormal">For three quarters, the Lions managed three points while the Bears sacked Jon Kitna five times.

<p class="MsoNormal">Twice in the first quarter, Kitna was sacked -- once for an eight-yard loss by Tommie Harris and Ogunleye, and again for eight yards by Ogunleye alone.

<p class="MsoNormal">Another time, Ogunleye stopped a scrambling Kitna for no gain, and Harris had a sack taken away late in the period by an Alex Brown offsides penalty.

<p class="MsoNormal">Ogunleye had another sack in the second quarter, pushing back to 39 yards a field-goal attempt that Danieal Manning would block. In the third, Mark Anderson got in on the act, separating Kitna from the ball nine yards into the Detroit backfield and adding another sack for a three-yard loss.

<p class="MsoNormal">"That was something we needed to do," Ogunleye said. "We didn't want the game to come down to the back end and the guys in the back. No matter what mistakes they've made, we wanted to let them know that we had their back. And in a way, speaking of myself, I've let the team down."

<p class="MsoNormal">In the fourth quarter, the line failed to get to Kitna as the Lions abused the Bears for a franchise record of 34 points allowed in any one quarter.

<p class="MsoNormal">Leading 13-3 up to that point, the Bears went home 37-27 losers.

<p class="MsoNormal">Kitna essentially conceded he finally got the better of the Bears' D-line, saying, "The (injuries in) their secondary are not going to affect their pass defense. Their pass defense is all based on the front four."

<p class="MsoNormal">Asked how things got away from them so quickly, Harris said, "I don't know. I asked in the fourth quarter. I was like, 'Wow, how did the score change that quick?' I really don't know."

<p class="MsoNormal">Lovie Smith had an idea, saying, "We collapsed as a team at the end of the game. We haven't done that very much."

<p class="MsoNormal">Smith also took issue with the Bears' surfeit of offsides penalties, one of which went against Harris in the fourth.

<p class="MsoNormal">"The refs started saying that we lined up offsides, but we weren't," Harris said. "So I had to start lining up way back off the ball because he was calling everything. I don't know. I think we got a lot of calls that didn't go our way. But that's just football. You win some, you lose some, you get another opportunity to play these guys. We'll see.

<p class="MsoNormal">"We're 1-3 right now. We've been 1-3 before and finished 11-5. There's still hope for the Chicago Bears."