Jim Caldwell discusses Lions' win over Bears

Below is a look at what Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell had to say after Thursday's win over the Chicago Bears. (Quotes provided by the Lions.)

Opening statement: "Overall I think it was a pretty good performance by our guys. I thought they came out to play. The first couple possessions they (Bears) had a 55-yard drive on a pretty short field and then a five-yard drive after the sack-fumble, but our guys stiffened up and did a tremendous job. The defense did a great job with the tip by Slay (Darius) and the interception by Glover (Quin) at obviously, a great time of the game as we were trying to close things out. Then offensively, it was just a heck of a performance by a Matt (Stafford). He did a tremendous job completing over 77-percent of his passes, somewhere around there. Calvin (Johnson) obviously, was on fire today. Golden (Tate) did a nice job and then running the ball also, Joique Bell did a great job. That's a really good pass rushing team. Their inside piece, typically those guys have done a great job in terms of rushing the passer and putting pressure on you. I think our young offensive linemen that played, did a nice job. The kicking game was solid as well, Prater (Matt) made all of his kicks. Overall I think it was a good performance for the guys and will certainly make that turkey taste a little bit better today."

On what this type of offensive performance does for the team: "Yeah, we played well. We played well and I think the guys worked at it, didn't get down on one another and it gives us an opportunity to build upon something."

On if there's more of a comfort zone now: "No such thing in our business."

On if there's a comfort zone with the offense: "No such thing. It's week to week. Every single week is going to be a new challenge. We'll have a new one next week and we better come out and play extremely well because we have a very tough team we have to face. The minute you get comfortable in any stage in our league, you're going to have problems."

On having a complete performance on offense today: "In terms of the entire game, probably since the first game of the year that we had a pretty good spark in the first half and in the , but it's a matter of execution, fundamentals and techniques. I think today they did a nice job in all of those phases."

On if the team is starting to nail down the new offensive system: "I wouldn't state it that way. I wouldn't make that sort of an assessment. From the inside I wouldn't make it, let alone from the outside. The thing is, you have to keep working. You work and you work, sometimes it just takes time to get in sync. Like I said, this is one ball game. We have a lot more football to play and we have a big one coming up next week. We have to keep working."

On why he believes WR Calvin Johnson was so successful today: "I think that there were opportunities, he was singled up a lot and when that happens you know he's going to match up pretty well. That was a good young corner playing against him obviously and I think that had a lot to do with it."

On if he was surprised that the Bears left Johnson singled up often: "No, they trust in him (Kyle Fuller) and he's made a lot of plays and played a lot of very, very fine receivers. He's a great talent."

On the 95-yard drive at the end of the third quarter: "Yeah, that was key. First of all, the field position wasn't the best all day long. They kind of had us backed up a little bit. I think we put together several drives. One was 78, 86, and 95. I mean those are unheard of drives. They're not typical in this league when you're backed up that far. That one, at that particular time I think was right after they had taken the ball down the field after half and scored three points, then we have bad field position and we take it all the way down and put it in the end zone. That to me was a very important drive."

On if there's an emphasis to have QB Matthew Stafford be aggressive early: "No. Not really, every game's a little different."

On what he thought of T Cornelius Lucas at left tackle: "Our two young guys, Luc did a nice job. But, the thing about it, Luc's had, early in the season when he had to step in there and play, he's got some snaps under his belt. With he and Swanson (Travis) stepping in there and doing a nice job, you have to commend those guys. They're working against some pretty formidable rushers. Jared Allen is still a player, Willie (Young) can rush the passer, all those guys certainly can give you problems and both guys hung in there and did a very good job. I'm anxious to really take a look at the film."

On how his team responded after being down 14-3 early: "I think other than one game, our response has been pretty much the same. Our guys I think have a lot of integrity, I think they focus, they concentrate and don't give up. That was early in the game, there was a lot of football yet to be played. They don't panic, they played with a lot of poise today."

On what it says about the offense when you they went for it on fourth down early in the game: "Every game's a little bit different but, it's 4^th-and-1, our defense is playing pretty well, we make it great and if we don't we have them backed up and pinned down in that area. It's just every once in a while, you do it. You certainly could take the points in that situation, it just depends on how you feel, what you think about your team, how they're functioning at that time. It could go either way."

On C Dominic Raiola making his 200^th career start: "Obviously, because of the fact that there haven't been very many guys that have done it, that shows that there's excellence involved in it. That also shows that he's been able to stay healthy. What I mean ‘stay healthy,' it doesn't necessarily mean that he's been healthy the entire time because you aren't, particularly at that position, you play through a lot. So, he can play through pain, difficulty, which is hard to do as much banging as they do down in the trenches. The leadership he provides is the apex to our offensive line and is invaluable. We certainly appreciate him."

On if this type of performance is what he envisioned from Stafford when he was hired: "Obviously, this is not a typical performance. Let's not fool ourselves. Seventy-seven (completion) is something that's not done consistently in this league. Do I think that he's capable? I think and still do believe that he's capable of having great games. I do think that you haven't seen the best of him yet. This was outstanding today, but I think he's capable of just continuing to rise. I talked about it early on with him, he's kind of in that age range, years of service range where you start to see an escalation in play."

On what's holding RB Reggie Bush back from playing: "It's just health. Whenever he gets in shape, I'm talking about in terms of the injuries he's sustained, he's just not quite where he should be yet and then hopefully in another week maybe he'll be back. We'll see."

On improvement in the rushing game: "I think we certainly feel that we have guys that can play when he's not there that can come in and give us a lift. So, you have to say the offensive line has done a nice job in that area. But overall, we have guys that can step in and do it and that's key. The next man steps up and performs decently."

On TE Eric Ebron's performance: "He appeared to play pretty well. He caught the ball well obviously. I don't know how many targets he had but I think he caught everyone that was thrown, except one I think it was the naked look later in the game. Obviously, he shows that he can get off the ground a little bit, which we don't always advise, particularly in this league. But, he was able to get over him and not have any issues. But, he's coming along for a young guy, making some progress."

On how difficult it is dealing with Bush being up in the air: "Not really difficult, not for us. It'd be different if you didn't have anybody that could step in and do a job like we do. Then it'd be a little different story but for us, we have guys that can step up and play."

On his perception of how other teams view his defense: "I think they look at the numbers and make an assessment of what they think they can do from an offensive standpoint in relationship to our defense. Not everybody will look at it the same way. You'll see week to week, it's a little different approach. The last couple weeks it's kind of been that way but I'm certain that there will be a time, and it could come up this particular week, where we'll get challenged in that area again."