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Brandon Marshall is not taking the Chicago Bears' most recent loss to the Detroit Lions very well. Actually, the Bears wide receiver is quite salty over being swept by the Lions this season, as evidenced by some comments he made during a radio show on ESPN 1000 on Monday. Via ESPN Chicago, Marshall complained about how the Lions' play on Sunday was "borderline illegal," he called the Lions "the little brother" and he even took a shot at the city of Detroit.
Let's start with the "borderline illegal" comment. Marshall wasn't pleased that Jay Cutler took so much abuse from the Lions defense, particularly, in his view, after the play. He described it as "kind of disgusting to see the D-line go out of their way to knock our quarterbacks down after every single play." He also alleged that the Lions were "pushing" Cutler down and taking shots at him below the knees. The Lions were flagged for unnecessary roughness and roughing the passer on the Bears' final drive, but that was pretty much it outside of a face mask penalty on Cutler earlier in the game.
Moving on, Marshall likened the Lions to "the little brother that kind of grew up a little bit." He came up with an analogy about how, despite not being stronger or better than the "big brother," the little brother decided to punch the big brother in the face after being fed up. He also went on to say this:
"It's the little brother that, big brother wants to go out and play with his friends and the little brother is annoying, [saying], 'Hey, can I go?' " Marshall said. "No, you can't go Detroit Lions. Sit back. Sit in your little city. Fix your financial problems and all of that, you know. You can't come with us right now. But right now, they've got the best of us. They beat us twice. They swept us. But what matters is when we see them in the playoffs. It'll be a great show. It's gonna be tough. But I guarantee it's not gonna go down like it did the first two games."
I have a three-part response for Marshall. No. 1: Scoreboard. Saying all of this after being swept by the Lions simply comes off as sour grapes. It's true that losing to the Lions twice in one season doesn't happen too often for the Bears, but this year it's pretty clear which is the better team. The two games between the Lions and Bears reflect that, as do the current NFC North standings.
No. 2: You must be lacking creativity if the best you've got is a cheap shot at Detroit's financial situation. We've heard it all before, so I will respond with an uncreative, recycled comment of my own: How can Detroit be bankrupt when it owns the Chicago Bears?
Finally, No. 3: I find it pretty comical that you're talking about seeing the Lions in the playoffs when you've never actually been to the postseason. You've been in the NFL since 2006, yet not a single one of your teams has been to the playoffs. Even the "little brother" made it to the playoffs in 2011. Perhaps you should actually make the playoffs once in your career before guaranteeing anything about seeing a team in the postseason.
Simply for the storylines alone, I would love for the Lions to meet the Bears in the playoffs. I can't exactly say things are looking up for the chances of that happening given the state of the Bears right now, but hey, there's a lot of football still to be played this season. Maybe Marshall will get his wish and this won't simply turn out to be a serious case of sour grapes.
For now, though, congratulations to Brandon Marshall for opening his mouth and reminding everyone that the Bears did in fact get swept by the Lions this season. Say what you want about the Lions' style of play, who the little brother is and the city of Detroit's financial issues. The only thing that truly matters is this: the Detroit Lions are 2-0 against the Chicago Bears this season. Better luck next time.