Lions Score 27 in 2nd Quarter, Beat Bears 40-32 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.