DETROIT (AP) Reggie Bush was worried about how his banged-up left knee would hold up in his return.
As it turned out, the Chicago Bears had plenty of concerns about the speedy, dual-threat running back they couldn't slow down.
Bush's 37-yard touchdown run helped Detroit score 27 points in the second quarter and he accounted for 173 yards of offense to help the Lions beat Chicago 40-32 Sunday.
``I was a little nervous,'' Bush said of his knee after missing a game with the injury.
Detroit (3-1) moved into a first-place tie with Chicago (3-1) in the NFC North.
Bush had a season-high 139 yards rushing and a score on 18 carries, mostly up the middle as he took advantage of running lanes created against a line without defensive tackle Henry Melton.
``We felt like we could dominate the line of scrimmage in this game, especially after they lost a key player to injury,'' he said.
The Lions scored 24 straight points, including three TDs in a span of 3 minutes, 26 seconds, after Matt Forte's 53-yard TD run gave the Bears 10-6 lead early in the second quarter.
Detroit led 40-16 early in the fourth quarter and ended up needing that cushion.
Jay Cutler, who had four turnovers, threw a pair of touchdown passes and 2-point conversions in the final 4 minutes to pull Chicago within eight points. Lions receiver Kris Durham recovered the onside kick to seal the win.
``There are no moral victories, but I thought our guys played tough for the last 30 minutes of that game,'' Chicago coach Mark Trestman said.
Detroit had a big lead to work with thanks to positive plays it got from each facet of the game.
Micheal Spurlock's 57-yard punt return set up Matthew Stafford's go-ahead TD with 6:09 left in the first half, when he recovered his own fumble on a 1-yard sneak. Stafford threw a 2-yard TD to Calvin Johnson on the Lions' next possession, one play after safety Glover Quin returned Cutler's second interception for 42 yards.
``This wasn't a one-man victory,'' Stafford said.
Bush, though, just as he did in his Detroit debut in a Week 1 win over Minnesota, was the star of the day.
He burst through a huge hole and hurdled safety Major Wright to give the Lions a 30-10 lead, their highest scoring first half in franchise history against Chicago, showing they didn't miss Nate Burleson very much. Burleson, the team's No. 2 receiver, broke his left arm in a one-car accident last Tuesday.
Stafford completed 23 of 35 passes for 242 yards with a TD, an interception and a lost fumble.
Cutler hurt the Bears opportunity to come back late in the third quarter when an up-for-grabs pass was picked off by safety Louis Delmas, who had two interceptions for the first time in his five-year career.
Stafford, though, turned the ball over again to give Chicago a chance - briefly. His low pass intended for Johnson inside the Bears 10 was kicked up in the air and intercepted by Wright.
Three snaps later, Ndamukong Suh sacked Cutler for a second time and forced a fumble that fellow defensive tackle Nick Fairley recovered and returned 4 yards for a score that put Detroit up 37-16 late in the third.
Cutler entered the game with a 7-1 record with the Bears against the Lions in large part because he had thrown only one interception.
He tripled that total in one afternoon, fumbled for a fourth turnover and was sacked three times after being taken down that many times combined in three games this season.
``Any quarterback, you hit him enough times, I'm sure they'll get rattled,'' Fairley said. ``I think we hit him enough times to rattle him, but he didn't show it.''
Cutler, who was 27 of 47 for 317 yards, rallied with a 14-yard TD pass to Alshon Jeffery with 4 minutes left and a 2-yard conversion pass to the same receiver that pulled Chicago within 16 points.
``I felt good about my decision making,'' he said. ``I just missed some throws.''
Cutler connected on some more later, but it was too late. He threw a 10-yard TD pass to Earl Bennett with 43 seconds left and found Brandon Marshall for a 2-point conversion that made it 40-32, making a game that was lopsided for much of the game appear to be close.
``Three picks and a fumble, it's hard to come back from,'' Cutler acknowledged.
NOTES: Lions CB Rashean Mathis left the game in the first half with a concussion and didn't return, and CB Chris Houston didn't finish the game because of a leg injury, Schwartz said. ... Forte finished with 95 yards rushing on 14 carries.
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AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org
