Lions' Prater hits another long, clutch kick

Nov 21, 2017 - 1:00 AM ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Head coach Jim Caldwell had no intention of sending Matt Prater out for any 50-yard field-goal attempts in the swirling winds and cold temperatures at Soldier Field Sunday, but when the Detroit Lions were stuck in a fourth-and-18 at the Chicago Bears 34 with the game tied 27-27 late in the fourth quarter, he had no choice.

Caldwell said he looked down the sideline at Prater, and when Prater nodded his head in approval, he sent the NFL's most clutch kicker out for the game-winning 52-yard try.

Prater had barely enough leg -- he said he hit the ball as well he could -- to send his kick a few feet over the crossbar with 1:35 left to give the Lions a 27-24 victory, their third straight heading into this week's NFC North showdown with the Minnesota Vikings.

"We usually set a line in pregame and say, 'OK, if you get to this point we can kick a field goal from here. If it's beyond that, we can't,'" Caldwell said.

"And really our line was not there, where we kicked it. It was quite a few yards forward of that. But I looked down at the end and he kind of gave me that nod like, 'I got it.' I said, 'OK, let's go.' And he did a nice job."

Prater has been a rock since the Lions signed him as a free agent early in the 2014 season, making 86 percent of his field-goal tries (95 of 110) and 21 kicks of 50 yards or more.

As a Lion, he's made all 10 of his game-winning or game-tying field-goal tries in the fourth quarter or overtime.

"It's just the mental part where I have a lot of confidence in Mule and Sam," Prater said, referring to long snapper Don Muhlbach and punter Sam Martin. "Without them, we couldn't be successful at all. Obviously, Mule and Sam do such a good job that it makes it easier for me. I wouldn't say it's a clutch thing, it's just more of a confidence, I think. We kind of gel and work well together as a group or unit."

The Lions signed Prater to a three-year extension last month, keeping him off the free-agent market next spring, and Caldwell said he's the type of weapon most coaches dream of having because of his ability to extend the scoring zone.

"He's dynamic," Caldwell said. "He's certainly one of those guys that's extremely dependable. He's clutch in every way. He's been that way for us since he's been here. To kick the length of field goals that he kicks at the end of ball games kind of in a pressure cooker, unheard of. There's been a lot of great ones in this league, and he's done some pretty unusual things."

--The Lions' biggest concern coming out of Sunday's win is the same one it was last week: their run defense.

The Lions allowed 222 yards rushing Sunday and have now given up 423 yards on the ground over the last two weeks. They've struggled to stop the zone-read game of athletic quarterbacks Mitchell Trubisky and DeShone Kizer, and face the league's eighth-ranked rushing offense on Thursday in the Minnesota Vikings.

Caldwell said bad tackling and missed run fits are the reason behind his team's recent struggles.

"That's probably the best way I can break it down, we just did not do those things well and when that happens you're going to get gashed," Caldwell said. "And it's going to get into your secondary and you're making tackles 10 yards down the field or more. And that happened to us too often in those two games. But I, just like anything else, I kind of look to see if I can get us back to where we were playing well. We are capable of doing that, we've done it in the recent past and we got to do it this week. This is a tough team to handle, and so we really got to be good up front in terms of our techniques and fundamentals."

--The Lions tied a franchise record with their seventh return touchdown of the season Sunday when cornerback DJ Hayden scooped up a Mitchell Trubisky fumble and returned it 27 yards to the end zone.

The Lions have five defensive touchdowns this season -- Miles Killebrew, Glover Quin and A'Shawn Robinson scored on interception returns, and Nevin Lawson returned a fumble for a score last week - and two punt-return touchdowns to lead the NFL.

Hayden said the returns have had a snowball effect, building upon each other with players now competing to see who can get to the end zone.

"It's great for the team, especially when we need a spark," Hayden said. "When the defense gets a touchdown, that's going to spark the whole team. It's going to spark the fans. It will give us a lot of momentum. The more we get, the better. I hope we get more."

NOTES: PR Jamal Agnew left Sunday's game in the fourth quarter with a left knee injury. Agnew was injured covering a kick and did not return. Lions head coach Jim Caldwell said Monday the team still was waiting on results of further testing. Agnew's status for Thursday's game against the Vikings is up in the air. ... QB Matthew Stafford moved past Troy Aikman and into 36th place on the NFL's all-time passing list with 299 yards on Sunday. Stafford grew up a huge Aikman fan in the Dallas suburbs. He now has 33,063 yards passing in his career. ... WR Marvin Jones Jr. caught a 28-yard touchdown pass Sunday, his fourth touchdown of 20-plus yards this year. Jones is tied for first in the NFL with 20-plus-yard touchdown catches. DeAndre Hopkins, Tyreek Hill, Will Fuller and Robby Anderson also have four such grabs.



REPORT CARD VS. BEARS

--PASSING OFFENSE: B - After a slow start, Matthew Stafford finished 21 of 31 passing for 299 yards and two touchdowns. He threw both of his scoring passes in the second quarter, 28 yards to Marvin Jones Jr. and 2 yards to Ameer Abdullah, but he also lost a fumble on a sack and had Bears defenders drop three would-be interceptions. Jones scored on a nice double-move and finished the day with 85 yards receiving on four catches, and TJ Jones and Golden Tate had big conversions on third-and-long. Stafford took three sacks and a handful of other unnecessary hits due to some faulty protection, but overall the Lions had success through the air.

--RUSHING OFFENSE: D - The Lions had another down day rushing the ball with just 65 yards on 24 carries, an average of just 2.7 yards a tote. Ameer Abdullah had one 11-yard run and 10 other carries for 11 total yards. Theo Riddick had a better rushing day than Abdullah, but with just 35 yards on nine carries he wasn't exactly burning up yards. The Lions have some serious shortcomings up front in the running game, and even the usually steady T.J. Lang picked up a bad holding call that nearly moved the Lions out of field-goal range on their game-winning drive.

--PASS DEFENSE: B-plus - Rushing the passer continues to be a problem for a Lions team that played without Ziggy Ansah for the second straight game. Cornelius Washington and Jeremiah Ledbetter split the Lions' only sack Sunday, and rookie quarterback Mitchell Trubisky generally had enough time to throw. The Bears didn't push the ball downfield much, and they didn't often throw Darius Slay's way. Slay had an early pass breakup and dropped an interception on the Bears' final drive, while linebacker Paul Worrilow was a hair slow reacting on Adam Shaheen's touchdown catch.

--RUSH DEFENSE: F - The Lions gave up more than 200 yards rushing for the second straight game and enter the week with some serious concerns about the run defense. Defensive end Cornelius Washington said he misplayed Jordan Howard's 50-yard run in the first quarter, and Tavon Wilson couldn't shed a block on Howard's 12-yard touchdown scamper. Middle linebacker Jarrad Davis has missed too many tackles of late, and the Lions once again failed to contain a running quarterback as Trubisky gained 53 yards on six carries. The Lions miss Haloti Ngata and Ziggy Ansah badly up front.

--SPECIAL TEAMS: A-minus - Matt Prater made the game-winning 52-yard field goal with 1:35 to play, another clutch kick for a player who has been almost automatic this year. Prater was 2-for-2 kicking on a day when swirling winds and cold temperatures made every attempt an adventure. Sam Martin punted OK given the circumstances, and Nick Bellore's coverage on Martin's final kickoff helped pin the Bears deep in their own territory. One negative: Jamal Agnew muffed a punt that he recovered and nearly fumbled a kickoff.

--COACHING: B-minus - The Lions played down to their competition for the second straight week but still came away with an important road win. Head coach Jim Caldwell has a knack for keeping his team even-keeled in the face of adversity, but the slow starts are a concern. The Lions failed to correct some of the problems they had last week defending the run, and players said after the game that teams continue to exploit their struggles against zone-read plays. Offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter schemed up a nice touchdown pass to Marvin Jones Jr. and continues to use Jamal Agnew in creative ways, but Cooter's dedication to the run with no evidence the Lions can be successful there is maddening.