ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Rob Sims had a simple response for Chicago Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall.

The Detroit Lions left guard said if Marshall wanted to take a shot at the city of Detroit and the Lions, he'd be waiting.

"If you want to go after somebody, we standing right here," Sims said. "We ain't running from nobody. The city and what it's going through, there's no reason to attack that. That's a different situation.

"A lot of people are hurting off that, so there's no reason for him to come at that."

Sims was responding to comments Marshall made Monday afternoon, when he called the Lions "little brother" and proceeded to take shots at the city as a whole.

That, more than anything Marshall said about the team, is what angered the Lions.

"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 Monday on ESPN 1000 in Chicago. "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."

Sims said if the Lions (6-3) and Bears (5-4) face each other in the playoffs, "OK, so be it."

Sims wasn't the only Lions player to feel that way. Safety Glover Quin, who joined the team as a free agent this season, tweeted that Marshall's criticism of Detroit was "totally uncalled for."

Lions center Dominic Raiola laughed at Marshall's comments. Raiola also pointed to Detroit's 2-2 record against Chicago during Marshall's time with the Bears.

"I think the writing's on the wall right there. So who's the big brother, who's the little brother?" Raiola said. "It's .500, it's 50-50."

The least surprising thing to the Lions was that Marshall said it.

"Well, B. Marshall is a good friend of mine," running back Reggie Bush said. "I'm not surprised at all that he said that.

"You know what's funny is that I have a little brother and growing up, I was always like the older brother, pushing him around a little bit, and now he's 6-foot-7," Bush said. "There's no more pushing him around anymore. He can hang with me. At some point in time, the little brother always grows up and ends up being the bigger brother."

The Lions, though, take pride in Detroit. They are the city's football team, one experiencing a renaissance this season and angling for its second playoff appearance in three seasons.

"I know Detroit's making a comeback of their own and we're on the right track and we're just the football team here," Raiola said. "He's talking about the economic, whatever, financial situation of the city and it has nothing to do with us as a football team.

"Us as a football team is a reflection of how we are as a city, and we've got the city's back and that's what we're going to keep doing."

Bears guard Kyle Long appeared on Chicago ESPN 1000's "Carmen and Jurko" earlier Tuesday and followed Marshall's critical remarks with some critical comments of his own.

Long does not approve of the Lions style of play, calling it "bush league."

"All that trying to get the quarterback out of the game, that's all well and good," Long said. "But there's a certain level of respect you have for your peers. And to do some of the things that are done on a football field when they come on the football field. ... it's unfair to pin it on the entire defense, there's a lot of good guys, a lot of guys who are just trying to play their butts off. But there are some guys who are doing some things that are bush league."