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Below is a look at what various Detroit Lions players had to say after Sunday's win over the Chicago Bears. (Quotes provided by the Lions.)
LIONS QB MATTHEW STAFFORD
On his quarterback sneak: "I think we felt we were a little bit closer than we actually were. It was kind of a long one. I was trying to jump over guys. They did a great job knocking it out, but I was able to corral it again and fall in the end zone."
On the win: "We played well. We didn't play our best game, that's for sure. On offense we left some things out there. First couple of drives we did a good job of getting down in the red zone. We didn't put sevens on the board. Against an offense like theirs, they're high-power and they can score. That's something that we need to do a better job of. Putting sevens on them early. I'm never going to apologize for a win. Our defense played fantastic. Turning the ball over for us and evening score."
On what it means for a quarterback to have the versatility of receivers: "It's fantastic. It's great to have weapons at your disposal. Our offensive line is playing great. They're opening holes in the running game and those guys are doing what they do. The more we can do that, the better we're going to be. Calvin (Johnson) is always going to be Calvin. He's going to make plays when we need him. He did that again today. Some other guys stepped up. (Brandon) Pettigrew had a couple of nice catches. (Kris) Durham had some catches there at the end to really get that four-minute drive going. It just takes a team effort. This was a team win, offense, defense and special teams. Nobody played their best game, but we played together as a team. We have to have more of that."
On what it means to have TE Brandon Pettigrew back: "It's great. That guy, he works his tail off. He's been a guy that, since I've been here, has been a security blanket for me. A guy that has been, a lot of times, five yards away from me right in front of my face and I've put some throws on him. He's taken some big hits and made some big plays for us. He did it again today. That guy is tough. He's blocking his butt off. I'm glad that we got to repay him with some passes today."
On RB Reggie Bush's touchdown run: "A sweet run. It was a play that, honestly, we have been working in practice all week knowing that they were going to blitz us. Instead of getting out of it we just ran right into it. Dom (Raiola) made a great call up front. Pettigrew had a great block. We sealed off the backside and then Reggie did the rest."
On if the holes created through the run game are surprising: "No. They're young guys. They're athletic. They're hungry. They're playing hard. Finishing blocks and doing a great job of avoiding penalties and still playing physical. That's tough to do in this league. They're playing good football right now. We just need to have more of it. Keep it coming. They understand that. We're only a quarter way through the season, but it's a nice start."
On if this win means more because of the opponent: "It means more because it's a home game for us. We set a goal at the beginning of the season to not lose at home. So far, we are 2-0. Ford Field was rocking. Our fans did a great job, especially early in the game by making it difficult for them to communicate. Our defense capitalized and got some turnovers. It's always a big game when you play a division opponent."
On if he has reflected on his career completions accomplishment: "I don't know. I might when I'm done playing someday. I had no idea about that or that it was coming. It's something that I'll probably look back on when I'm done and realize it was something pretty special."
LIONS WR CALVIN JOHNSON
On his reaction to the Lions' dominating performance: "I just put it on the practices that we had the last couple weeks. We've been real crisp, real efficient. We're not making penalties, making dumb mistakes on offense. We might have a turnover here or there, but we bounce right back from it. Nobody's flustered in the huddle. Same thing on the other side of the ball."
On the mistakes the Lions made vs. the Bears: "Like I said, it's just the one turnover we had there. If we don't convert, we feel like we have to convert every time. We hold ourselves to a high standard. Like I said, we had a good game in all phases though."
On stealing the momentum by outscoring the Bears 27-10 in the second quarter: "That's exactly what we said on the sideline. They went up 10 and we had six or something like that. Then we went on a 27-point run. That's what we've got to do. The defense is able to get turnovers and that helps us out. We got good field position on a great punt return over there by (Micheal) Spurlock. Those kinds of things we have to have."
On the collective effort by the team to replace injured WR Nate Burleson: "We have too many weapons for guys not to want to get a piece of the action out there. We have hungry guys in here. Guys that are sitting out, that are inactive, they could come in and play for us right now too. We have some talent."
On if he feels like he no longer has to have a great personal game to help the team win: "We have (No.) 21 (Reggie Bush) over there. That dude does special things out there, every week. As long as we can give him good support in the blocking game and we do our thing on the outside, we're going to be alright."
LIONS RB REGGIE BUSH
On the play of the offensive line: "Offensive line did a tremendous job today. We talked all week about them controlling the line of scrimmage and that was going to be key to our success on offense. They did a great job today. I really didn't get touched a whole lot until I got to the secondary. That's just, kudos to those guys, man. They played their hearts out, they played well and they were the key factor why we were successful on offense."
On if there was any one gap they were keying in on: "There wasn't. We didn't talk about running to either side more or less than the other. We just felt like we could definitely dominate the line of scrimmage and, obviously, they lost one of their best players - the D-tackle (Henry Melton). So we felt like that was an area we could definitely take advantage of. I thought it was a job well done today."
On the feeling after another division win: "Well, it's a good feeling for one. We talked all week, obviously, about the significance of this game and what it mean, but also at the same time, not making it too big. Being in the moment, understanding our position, understanding where we are, but still going out there, being able to focus and come out with the win and we did that today."
On Head Coach Jim Schwartz's message to the team: "Well, we had some plays here and there - the offense turned the ball over. I had a fumble, Joique (Bell) had a fumble at the end of the game that was really costly. So we have to do a better job at closing out the game. We played well throughout the game, but we had some turnovers that we've got to clean up. I'm sure when we play them in Chicago, we can't go in there and turn the ball over like that. So we've just got to be able to clean up these mistakes. Obviously, we won and that's the most important thing, but we definitely have some room for improvement."
On if he feels as good as he's felt in a few years: "I wouldn't say that, I'm coming off an injury. I feel pretty good. I think I'm kind of finding a rhythm with this offense and obviously a lot of that has to do with Megatron (Calvin Johnson) out there. He makes life a lot easier for me. I'm very
appreciative of him being out there."
On how excited he gets when he sees six guys in the box: "I get very excited. We definitely felt like that was an area we could take advantage. When we have them in nickel - their nickel personnel - and there's six guys in the box, we've got to take advantage of that. We felt like we had to do a better job this week and take advantage of that and that would force them to be honest and then, in turn, obviously the pass would be open."
On the versatility of the offense and when he knows it's ‘his moment': "Well, you don't know when it's your moment, you just have to stay ready. That's one thing that I think we pride ourselves in: our guys are always ready. No. 1 guy goes down, somebody has to step up. Obviously I was down last week and Joique played well - he played really well. He was the key reason why we won that game last week. Then Nate went down this week and Broyles had to step up. So we had to not only step up individually, but just as a team. We had to make up for the slack for the guys that were missing and I felt like we definitely did that today. Receivers played well today, I thought Durham played extremely well today. He was a huge reason why we converted some of those third downs. Guys just stepped up completely as a team. So I don't think there's any one moment where a guy is looking for his moment."
On how much trouble his knee gave him today: "Not much. I'm not going to lie, I was a little worried because I wasn't sure. When you're coming back off of injury, you just don't know until you take a hit on it, so I wasn't sure how I was going to respond. I was a little nervous, but it held up pretty good. And after that first series, I felt like I was okay."
LIONS DT NDAMUKONG SUH
On how they were able to get to Bears QB Jay Cutler: "We had a great plan. Coaches always put a great plan together. We knew what they were going to do for the most part and they pretty much stayed true to it and we just executed. That was the biggest thing. It's something that we pride ourselves on as a defense is when we have one-on-one chances and when we put ourselves in positions to make plays. We need to make sure we do that."
On if they feel they can get this kind of pressure almost every game: "That's something that we strive to do every single play in every single game that we face. No matter who we're facing, whether it's a read-option team or a team that likes to drop back or even get rid of the ball, we have guys on all levels of the defense that can allow us to get there. Really, it's a lot of credit to our secondary and those guys taking care of business and making them hold the ball and we got that extra time and made sure we got back there."
On if he feels the focus on him should now be on his play: "I hope so, but, to be honest with you, this is just a great feeling that we're winning and we're finally getting that job done. I'm not so much worried about whether people see me dirty or if they see me as a great player. As long as we're winning, then I'm satisfied with that. That's most important. Granted, I'm not going to sit here and lie to you. I would love for it to be focused on my play, but I understand people have their agendas and people have things that they want to focus on. I can't really concern myself with that."
On if he feels he's playing the best football of his career right now: "To be honest with you, I go into every single year making and wanting that year to be better than the last one. Whether it was a horrible year or an average year, I find my year ... the last year I had my best year and I want to outdo that. From a statistical standpoint, obviously my rookie year was my best year. So, from a statistical standpoint, I want to outdo that. But, honestly, I think my rookie year was my worst year of football because I really didn't understand the game and I was really just going out there and playing hard and trying to execute. Now I'm a little bit more seasoned. I can understand and pick up things a little faster. But it's so early in the season - it's only the fourth game. I can't give you a solid answer for that or say yes or no."
On if he looks at these games as steps and how big a step this was today: "Without question every single game is a step and it's whether or not you take a step forward or you take a step backward. The biggest thing is you're always going to take a step forward with a win, but we made some mistakes. On the defensive side of the ball, we gave up too many points. Thirty-two is not what we want to accomplish. So, there are things that we've got to learn from it. But we did take a step forward. We took a step back in some areas and we've got to learn from that. Luckily we came out on the winning side and we can learn from it on a positive note."
On how close they are to being able to say, ‘everything went perfect': "I haven't actually taken the time to really look at that, but the biggest thing for me is that I think we have all the tools in our defense. I can only really speak for our defense because I don't pay attention that much to the offense even though I pay attention to them. But from a defensive standpoint, I think we have every single guy that we need on that defensive side of the ball to get the job done. It's just a matter of continuing to do it day-out and day-in as well as week-out and week-in. It's exciting to have that. I felt in years past we didn't always have every single position that was tuned up to the depth that each position could take care of themselves, and I think that we have that this year."
On his thoughts on Bears G Kyle Long's performance today: "I didn't have any thoughts. Really, just, I wanted to affect the quarterback and affect the running back and not allow them to be successful. They were successful to a certain extent, but I think we did a good enough job to, obviously, win the game. I'm actually not that happy because we gave up 32 points."
On Head Coach Jim Schwartz saying there should have been 100 holding calls and if he felt that way: "Honestly, every single play in this game there was some sort of holding and the great players learn how to play through it. I think as a defense, and especially as a defensive line, we've gradually learned to play through that and understand that we're not necessarily going to get calls and sometimes we will get calls. I've gotten calls and I appreciate them without question, but I'm not going to sit there and harp at a ref and say, ‘it's a holding call, it's a holding call.' I'm just going to keep playing - that's all I've got to do."
LIONS S LOUIS DELMAS
On dominating the Bears' offense: "Like you said, we were feeding off of each other. And although they got a couple of touchdowns at the end there, we felt that we beat them. I give credit to my coaching staff and to my conditioning. They gave us the right calls to make plays."
On the importance of winning this divisional game vs. the Bears: "You never want to lose against a division opponent at home, and luckily we were the better team and we got the win. We have another next week at Green Bay. That's another division opponent, so hopefully we'll able to go again."
On his thoughts on the secondary: "I think we took pride in ourselves today. Since day one, Monday, we knew that we were facing a strong, competitive quarterback who wasn't going to take ‘no' for an answer. As you can see in the game, we completed a lot of passes that converted to two touchdowns. Our secondary feeds off our linebackers and our linebackers feed off our d-line and I think today we competed as a unit."
LIONS DT NICK FAIRLEY
On his fumble return for a touchdown: "Really, it was a d-line total effort. All four of us actually combined on that play. Willie (Young) got a good grab on the tackle. (Ndamukong) Suh got a good sack and I still had to bend my knees to pick it up and score.
On the defensive line working as a unit: "Oh big time, we're always going to make plays on each other. When you get a sack, if the ball comes up, hopefully one of us can scoop and score."
On the last time he scored a touchdown: "Tight end, a long time ago."
On how he celebrated his last touchdown: "I do a little dance. I can dance. They piled me up to where I didn't have to do a celebratory dance."
On if the team took this game vs. the Bears personally: "As a defense, of course. We have to tip our hats out to those guys. Those guys are really good as far as getting the ball out, turnovers and all that. But coming to this game, we knew our defense had to step up to win this game and I think we stepped up."
LIONS S GLOVER QUIN
On the Lions' defensive performance: "We want to be the group that keeps the other team out of the end zone. We don't want to depend on our offense to score 40 points a game, we want to try to go out and hold teams. We are working hard every week, everyone is locked in, everyone is focused in on what we are trying to get done with the game plan and we are just coming out and executing it. We are getting some good results."
On the Bears comeback in the fourth quarter: "In those situations you are definitely trying not to give up the big play, the quick score. They were able to work their way down the field, get into scoring range, complete a couple short passes and they ended up getting in the end zone. When you're down 24 points, three touchdowns and three two-point conversions, we don't want to give up anything quick. Those drives that they were scoring, it was taking them two or three minutes so it was good for us."
On the crowd at Ford Field: "Obviously when the crowd is into it, we are playing great but we just feed off that energy and get the momentum rolling. You just get that energy and that feeling, you just get in the zone. It was great when the crowd is loud like that, we need them every time we are playing here to be rocking, be loud. We have to make sure every time a team comes into Ford Field that we come out with a win and it's going to take us and the fans. They've meant a lot to us."
On DT Nick Fairley getting a touchdown: "I don't think a lot of us saw it. We're back there covering and looking at receivers. I looked up and it's like ‘Hey we scored a touchdown'. Any time as a defense you can get points, you like that. We were able to get points, score a touchdown. The Chicago defense has been getting a lot of turnovers and scoring points, one thing we wanted to emphasize this game was to have more turnovers than their defense. We were able to do that today."