Handing out a game ball is never easy after a loss, especially after the first loss in 10 months. It can be tough to reward anybody after a game that ended in defeat, and the pool of candidates for this week's Lions game ball was very limited. Even so, one player emerged as deserving of a game ball: defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch.

Admittedly, Vanden Bosch secured this week's game ball with really just one play:

Vanden Bosch's awesome sack on the 49ers' first offensive play of the game turned out to be his third forced fumble of the season. As pointed out by the Lions' Twitter account, his three forced fumbles this season are more than he had in each of the previous two seasons. In fact, before this year, Vanden Bosch had only forced three or more fumbles in three seasons. Now, after just six games, he already has three forced fumbles and four sacks. I'd say that's pretty good for a guy coming off neck surgery.