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Below is a look at what Detroit Lions head coach Jim Schwartz had to say during his Monday press conference. (Quotes provided by the Lions.)
On CB Rashean Mathis' status: "He was in the facility today, worked out. He has passed his initial concussion test, he was never diagnosed with a concussion on the sideline. During the game there was question of whether he was concussed and our people decided to err on the side of caution there. Even though he was never diagnosed with a concussion we just thought it was prudent for him to not go back into the game. He came in and worked out this morning, not having any symptoms. Sometimes you see some delayed stuff, where a guy looks good one day and then next he comes back and he's got headaches or light sensitivity or whatever it is and none of that has been the case with Rashean. We would expect, unless he has some other sort of setback, it would remain that way."
On the confusion with the Bears doctors regarding Mathis: "No, it is always our doctors decision but our doctors are going to take in every bit of information that they can and they have to weigh on that, plus to test on the sideline and all that stuff. I think we are pretty well-documented of being one of the most conservative teams in the League when it comes to concussions. Quite honestly, there might have been some teams that cleared Rashean to go back in the game, but we erred on the side of caution in that case. He was helpful on the sidelines. He stayed into the game. He was working with (Darius) Slay when Slay came off the field. If you're concussed then that's not a situation that you can be that into the game but again, our guys are going to take all of the information that comes in, including how it goes, how he felt last night and how he felt today. I feel pretty good about where he is right now. We'll see how it goes the rest of this week."
On being 21-19 in their last 40 games: "I will probably classify that with, hadn't won in Washington in forever and stuff like that. I honestly don't know if that means anything to the players that are on the field. We don't carry around any banners that say we are 21-19. Obviously we are trying to improve. We are in an absolute race right now to correct mistakes, plug-in for injured guys, find out things we can rely on, things that we are good at and every team in the league is the same way. We are at the quarter pole. There is still a lot of race to be run and the guys that are going to do well over the last three-quarters are the guys that can deal with all those things. That's a continuing thing. I bet you Week 14 guys are talking about correcting mistakes and filling in for injured guys and finding out, with the pieces they have, what they can be good at and stuff like that. Our focus is ahead and not what has been in the past. Our focus is a lot more immediate than that and that's just our personality."
On if it was the defensive scheme or the inexperienced corners that led to Bears QB Jay Cutler finding open guys in the fourth quarter: "We weren't in prevent mode. I mean there are a couple plays that we could have played better in there. I thought Darius (Slay) did some really good things in the game. He had a couple bad plays. The two-point conversion was a poor play by him but I thought that he did some good things in the game. It was just a couple plays in there, a couple fourth downs where we had a chance to stop them and stop those drives then. Those two-point conversions we can play a lot better. We got one on the back line where we have to get that guy out of bounds. If we just make one of those plays then that last onside is mute at that point. Jonté (Green) kept active in the game and has been an active special teams player but he was pressing the service there also with two injuries. There were a couple plays where he could play better, but he also made a couple nice pass-breakups and did some good things. We can improve in our pass defense and we can improve in our pass rush. I think also we can improve by not giving up the ball offensively. We could have taken significant more portion of the clock out if we don't fumble on first down right around midfield too. There are a lot of things we can do better. We are happy with the win, but we start to recognize that there are things we can play better."
On TE Brandon Pettigrew securing the ball: "He hasn't been doing any work that he hasn't been doing since last offseason. It's not like all of a sudden he decided to come up with a new drill or something like that. Pettigrew is a good player. He has made a lot of plays for us. He went through a rough spot, a lot of players do and nobody is going to play a perfect game and everyone is going to have things that they need work on. He is a very prideful player and when his team needed him this week he answered. I think that is a great sign for the future for Brandon. He's blocked well the whole season and he made some plays in the passing game. I don't think he made those plays because he was ultra-concerned. I think he went and trusted his technique and went and played football. That's a good sign for us."
On how he likes his team through four games: "We're off to a 3-1 start. I don't think there is anything else to be said other than that. We are 2-0 in the division which is important for us. We didn't have a division win last year. We showed some signs that we can get some turnovers on defense. That was a point that was lacking last year. We also have some explosive ability, not just in our pass game, which we've always had, but in our run game. But the last 12 are not going to hinge on what happened in the first four. The first four are over with. Our job is to learn from them and move on. The teams that do the best job with that are the teams that will be successful over the long haul. We are going to have as many problems as everybody else. We are going to have ups and downs and things we are going to have to deal with but I think our personality as a team, we have been battle tested in a lot of ways. We have been through some rough spots and I think we can lean on that as we go forward. I like the personality of our team when it comes to dealing with adversity, the inevitable adversity that comes for all 32 teams in the NFL."
On if he feels the sense of confidence going along with the team that the Lions can win on Sunday: "Honestly, in my career I don't think we have ever gone in to a game not thinking that we could win. Including last year we played a Sunday night game at Green Bay and we were shorthanded in that game, but never once did anybody think that we didn't have a chance in there. I think that it would certainly be a big win for us. Number one, it would be our fourth win of the year. Number two, it would make us 3-0 in our division. It would give us another chance to put a loss on a division opponent. We certainly want to end the streak, but that's not our rallying cry. Our rallying cry is Green Bay and division game. Those are the things that will mean more to the players. Building confidence is important to a team. I think we're a battle tested team, but I think there is something to the confidence to know that you can pull through. We had a situation a couple of weeks ago where we didn't have Reggie (Bush). Situation this week was we were without Nate (Burleson). We lost Rashean (Mathis) early in the game. We lost (Chris) Houston in the game. We have had things. We lost our right tackle a couple series in to the first game. We have had a lot of things that we have had to adjust to. I think there's confidence in knowing that we can. I think that's a good point."
On if Green Bay is the most difficult road venue in which to play: "I think they're all tough. It's the 11 players that they're putting on the field that always are the things that you're worried about. When we play at Minnesota, at Chicago and at Green Bay they're all tough places to play. I don't know if there is a place in the NFL that you would say is not a tough road game. You don't win or lose the game because of the name of the stadium or what happened in the past. You win because the 11 you're putting on the field and the 11 the opponents are putting on the field and who executes the best."
On if he's seen S Louis Delmas progress throughout the four games: "I think he is getting back in the swing, even though he practiced during training camp he wasn't a full participant in training camp. We tried to be prudent with his training camp and the way we prepared him for this season. I think you're starting to see him make plays. His two interceptions get noticed, but I thought he had a couple of really good tackles too. That's one of the things that's one of Lou's best assets is his ability to make open field tackles and things like that. I think that comes from just being on the field more and things like that. He didn't have a whole lot of practice time last week, but his game experience has increased this year. He's got a new safety next to him. I like the dynamic between those two guys. A nickel that Lou really hadn't played with before this year and one corner that he hadn't played with either. I think that experience will certainly help there. Not meaning long term experience, but just experience with those guys on the field I think means a lot."
On what does he attribute the defense's third-down success: "I think our defensive staff and Gunther Cunningham do a good job at preparing the players for what opponents do. I think we work hard to put our players in good positions and let them do what they do the best. I think it's just a result of that. I'd caution reading anything in to any stat at four weeks of the season. We certainly spent a lot of time on third down and we want to get off the field on third down. It's just the rate we're going at now is pretty tough to sustain. We have guys that rush. We have some guys in the backend that can get the ball. We have some guys that have played pretty smart and matched up routes. I think the combination of the two. We have blitzed from time-to-time I think that's been affective when we have."
On if DE Israel Idonije provided insights on the Bear's defensive scheme: "I really think that's ridiculous. I think it takes away from the players that are on the field. We rushed for a lot of yards because we blocked them. Reggie Bush broke tackles and things like that. To say that Reggie Bush is eight yards behind the quarterback and he can hear what a line call is, I think that's ridiculous. I'd also like to point out that they signed Landon Cohen last week. Landon had been here for a long time and we haven't changed our scheme since Landon was here. I didn't see that being a big difference in the game. Stuff like that comes up. It's just the nature of the NFL. I like to concentrate on the players on the field and what happened on the field, not stupid stuff like that. I really don't think it had any impact at all in the game."
On if there are any similarities between the RB Jahvid Best big run against the Bears a few years ago and RB Reggie Bush's run: "No. There's obviously some carryover. I think the carryover is that both of those guys were explosive with the ball in their hands and if they made a guy miss, it wasn't a first down it was a touchdown. I think those are the similarities there. I think, you know, one that went a little unnoticed in that play was the play before where Reggie had a nice run and almost broke up a fumbled. The best wide receiver in the National Football League was hustling behind the play and jumped on the fumble. We had a couple incidents with guys. Our guys have covered very well from an offensive standpoint. When a guy that has the resume that Calvin Johnson has, he is the guy that's hustling behind the ball and making that play. Reggie doesn't make that next run without Calvin scooping that ball up. I think that needs to be noticed also."
On the team giving up three long runs in three of the first four games: "The first one was Adrian Peterson doing what he does. I thought we did a good job rallying and coming back to that. Each of these last two runs were different. One was a reverse and we didn't play that especially well. And then the other one was a play on the edge that we were a little bit out of position. But I think all three of them are different. We don't want to give up long runs."
On electing to go for a field goal on fourth-and-one when on the Bears' five-yard line late in the first quarter: "We were down 3 to nothing. It was the first quarter of the game. We'd like to get some points right there, but that doesn't mean that we're not going to go for it on other fourth downs. I mentioned the last time we were in Lambeau (Field), I think it was the first series of the game, we had a fourth-and-goal on the one-yard line and we easily could have kicked a field goal. We went for it and we scored a touchdown. So each one is a little bit different. One of the things that were important in this game, the way that the points rolled out, was that our field goal team was 100% effective. And that's been something in the first couple games that hasn't been the case and I think that the guys have worked really hard to address some of the issues that we had. And we got points every time our field goal team went on the field, whether it was an extra point or a field goal. The way the game ended and things that happened, that was certainly an advantage for us."
On why the coverage units have performed so well early in the season: "They've had some challenges. Patrick Peterson, and (Cordarrelle) Patterson from Minnesota. Devin Hester. Those guys are really good returners. I think that our guys were up for the challenge this week. They did a nice job of kick location and depth when it came to Devin Hester. It was a combination of both things. Those guys have worked very hard on our coverage units, Coach Bonamego and our core players. And even some other guys that really aren't core players. Devin Taylor was out there covering some kickoffs and doing some things like that. We've mixed some other guys in there that have made an impact and they've played well as a group. I said that a bunch with the offensive line, I said it was secondary, it's not an individual sport. Special teams is a team sport, it's not about individual achievement. It's about what the group is able to do and I think we're on the right track there. We still have a long way to go. There's things we can correct. There's more challenges that we'll have in the future, but I think we're on the right track there."
On what WR Kris Durham has given the team at the outside receiver position: "He's got great size, he's got good hands. I think that he's reliable as a catcher of the ball. He doesn't look like he's moving fast, but because he's so long, he can get open, he can get guys deep. He certainly wasn't a forgotten man as far as our team. The way it comes out, you have Calvin Johnson and (Nate) Burleson's playing at a high level and a lot of the other guys - there's only one football to go around. But he's stepped up in some crucial times in that game, made some crucial catches, including a sidearm throw from Matt Stafford on one that we'll try to address. I really think his biggest play was getting the onside kick, because they had cut it to eight, it's still a one-score game, even though they technically have to score twice on that drive. We'd had a lot of injures in our secondary. We were tired on defense, we'd been on the field, we had turned the ball over on offense. There were a lot of things that were rolling against us and we had to go back on the field, who knows what's going to happen. But he goes up, makes a very short catch of the ball, goes down, takes a hit right in the back. He's going to be sore this week too. He took a helmet right in the small of his back. But he was able to hold on and that's what we needed at that point. At that point, with the way the timeouts were, they weren't going to get the ball back, so that was the ‘game-winning play' for us."
On if he thinks this was one of the team's best tackling performances on defense: "No. I thought we missed way too many to tell you the truth. I thought we rushed well. We missed a tackle on the first play of the game. We missed tackles on a couple of the big plays. I think when we've tackled better we will tackle better."