Nov. 26, 1964 - Second place, a winter vacation in Florida, and some $32,000 in bonus loot — all of it escaped the Detroit Lions on a day when, tradition says, they were supposed to be thankful.
They bowed to the Chicago Bears, 27-24, before 52,231 in the annual Thanksgiving Day tussle in Tiger Stadium, as the skid they entered six weeks ago carried them beyond recall.
Roger LeClerc booted a 17-yard field goal with just 1:34 left to break a 24-24 tie and give the Bears their narrow victory.
This one was strictly an offensive show, one in which Bear flanker Johnny Morris etched his name alongside such pass receiving greats as Don Hutson and Tom Fears.
Morris took in seven passes and became the leading one-season catcher in pro football history with 90.
The tensions within the Lion locker room boiled over after the frustrating defeat.
Alex Karras, featured in a current magazine dissertation on how to rush the passer, exploded when the same subject was raised in the locker room.
“I’ll shove your head through the wall!” he shouted at the Chicago writer who brought up the item.
It had been an unhappy afternoon for Karras and some other Lion defensive linemen in their attempts to get at Chicago’s Rudy Bukich while he was getting off 29 passes and completing 22 of them.
Brent Musberger of Chicago’s American wondered if Bear guard Jim Cadile had done a better job this time of protecting Bukich from Karras.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Alex said, and then he took off. “Yeah, he’s the greatest guard there ever was, he’s All-Pro. Is that what you want me to say?” Karras waved a finger under Musberger’s nose. “Do you want me to shove your head through the wall?”
The sound brought Lion coach George Wilson from his office to see what the noise was about, but everything had calmed by the time he got there.
Musberger, even with Karras in age but not in weight, had heard Alex out and then quietly retreated.
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