CHICAGO -- Observed and heard in the locker room after the Detroit Lions’ 20-14 win over the Chicago Bears:
When the Bears switched quarterbacks during the week from Jay Cutler to Jimmy Clausen, it sent cornerback Rashean Mathis back to watching film in an entirely different strategy because he knew very little about Clausen, who had not started a game since the 2010 season. “I did [watch more film], actually,” Mathis said. “You kind of know the other quarterbacks you play against, especially Cutler -- we play against him twice. Played against him before. But I didn’t know much about this guy. I knew their offense, but I didn’t know too much about him as a quarterback. Each quarterback is different, and each quarterback likes to do different things. He just showed me confidence.”
With the Lions and Green Bay Packers in a winner-take-division-and-likely-bye contest next Sunday, there’s a chance the two teams might play the night game in Week 17. At least one Detroit player, Calvin Johnson, wants no part of a night game in northern Wisconsin. “I don’t think anybody wants that game to be flexed for the main reason that we’re playing in Green Bay,” Johnson said. “And at nighttime.” Are the Packers more imposing at night? “No,” Johnson said. “It’s cold at night.”
Left guard Rob Sims said he caught the “tail end” of Saturday’s Philadelphia-Washington game that propelled Detroit into the playoffs. After the game was over, clinching the Lions’ first berth in the postseason since 2011, he estimated that 10 or so people called him to offer congratulations, mostly family members.
