Calvin Johnson, Brock Vereen, Kyle Fuller

Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson darts downfield ahead of Chicago safety Brock Vereen (45) and cornerback Kyle Fuller (23).

(AP Photo)

CHICAGO -- The Detroit Lions have talked a lot about how simply making the playoffs is not enough for them. Which of course is bogus.

This is, after all, the same organization that hangs banners at Ford Field for playoff appearances. You know, something more than a third of the league does every year.

That's absurd. But not as absurd as making the postseason just once in the past 15 years, and definitely not as absurd as winning only one playoff game in 57 years.

So although celebrating playoff appearances seems preposterous -- because it is preposterous -- you have to forgive the Lions. They're just not used to this whole winning thing, nor how to really handle it.

And it was hard not to think about all of that Sunday, as the Lions celebrated the news of their playoff bid by holding off the powerful Bears in a 20-14 nail-biter at Soldier Field.

That's sarcasm, people. The Bears stink.

They've lost seven of nine on the field, called out their own players away from it and benched their starting quarterback one year into a $126.7 million contract. They were missing one of their best receivers (Brandon Marshall), their best offensive lineman (Kyle Long), their best cornerback (Charles Tillman) and their best safety (Chris Conte).

A lot of people didn't even know their new starting quarterback (Jimmy Clausen) was still in the league until this week.

But it was the Lions, in the after glow of punching their ticket to the postseason Saturday, who played like also-rans on this dreary day at Soldier Field.

They threw red-zone interceptions on back-to-back drives. They muffed a punt return at the Chicago goal line with less than a minute left in the first half. They ran into the punter on a fourth-and-23. They had a field goal blocked.

Put it this way: The Bears trailed 24-0 against the Saints (6-9) last week. The trailed the Cowboys 35-7 the week before that.

And they played the Lions to a 7-7 halftime draw, and led 14-10 in the fourth quarter.

Whether or not it's true, Detroit looked like a team content to simply be in the postseason. It looked like it had a hangover.

"Usually a hangover happens overnight," star defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh said, "but I don't don't know. I don't think so. We've had starts like this, unfortunately, before. We found a way to get it done, and that's most important."

Coach Jim Caldwell told his team this neat story last week about how for every 100 men who can handle adversity, only one can handle success. But this looked like the very definition of a team struggling to handle success.

The Lions have had so little of it over the years, they're still learning to handle the bits they do get their hands on. And now they're trying to make that next step.

"You're going to get to a point in time where being in the playoffs is not that big of a deal. (Where) it's what's supposed to happen," left guard Rob Sims said. "The Patriots don't jump for joy when they go to the postseason.

"We haven't earned the right not to be a little excited about it. But for us, it's full speed ahead."

For the Lions, that means traveling to Green Bay next week for a winner-take-all showdown against the Packers for the division title. And if Detroit is serious about this whole just-making-the-playoffs-isn't-enough business -- and it made an unconvincing case of that against Chicago -- this would be as good a place as any to start.

The winner of this game is guaranteed at least a No. 2 seed and first-round bye, plus a home playoff game. And you'd have to like Detroit's chances of advancing against just about anybody at Ford Field.

But to beat Green Bay, or to put together any kind of serious playoff run, the Lions must avoid the kind of slow start that plagued this team against Chicago and throughout the season.

The Lions have come back to win five games this year, but the thing about coming back all the time is you're trailing all the time. And that's a precarious proposition against real-life NFL teams, rather than the Bears.

Detroit seems like a really good second half team, and that's because it is. But even the best teams lose games when they're playing from behind.

The Lions are 3-3 when they trail at halftime this season. And they're 8-1 when they don't.

Comebacks are fun. But wins are better. And the Lions need to avoid more sluggish starts like the one they turned in against Chicago, and so many others, if they are to do more in the postseason than just have a cup of coffee.

"We need to come out like Tyson," Suh said, "and start swinging."

The Lions have been a punching bag for a long time now. If they're serious about raising a real banner one of these days, they're going to have to start punching sooner, or risk getting punched out once again.

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