Bears Need Wild Finish to Defeat Lions, 27-24 : NFC: Detroit’s prevent defense doesn’t prevent anything. Harbaugh throws game-winning touchdown pass with one second left.

CHICAGO —  When the Detroit Lions went into their prevent defense, all it prevented was the Chicago Bears from scoring until there was one second left.

That’s when Jim Harbaugh connected with Tom Waddle for a six-yard touchdown pass on fourth down to give the Bears a 27-24 victory over the Lions Sunday.

There were three touchdowns in the final three minutes and four in the last 10 as the Bears won their ninth consecutive opener.

Rodney Peete gave Detroit a 24-20 lead with a 27-yard scoring pass to Willie Green before the Bears drove 74 yards in 1:11 for the winning touchdown.

“I didn’t think we had much of a chance,” said Neal Anderson, whose 18-yard run put Chicago ahead, 20-17, with 2:56 left.

“I thought we had had it after they scored. But then they started playing a loose defense.”

Harbaugh, who completed 19 of 30 passes for 227 yards, took advantage of the coverage.

He threw nine yards to Mark Green, eight to Ron Morris and 13 to Anderson, then scrambled 14 yards to the Detroit 11 with 19 seconds left.

Harbaugh overthrew Wendell Davis in the end zone twice, then found Morris at the six before threading a pass through two Lion defenders to Waddle over the middle.

“I looked (the defense) off to the right and hit Tom’s belly button,” Harbaugh said.

The Bears took a 7-0 lead on the game’s opening possession, capped by an 11-yard pass from Harbaugh to Anderson, who carried 13 times for 52 yards and caught three passes for 32. Kevin Butler’s 34-yard field goal 52 seconds into the second quarter made it 10-0.

Detroit tied it by halftime on Peete’s 40-yard scoring pass play to Brett Perriman and Jason Hanson’s 38-yard field goal. It stayed that way as the Chicago defense, which had all of its five sacks in the second half, asserted itself.

But then, Detroit’s Barry Sanders got untracked.

Held to 44 yards in 14 carries through three quarters, he ran up the middle for 17 yards to ignite a drive early in the fourth quarter and followed with a 43-yard touchdown run with 9:56 left.

“Incredible,” said Sanders, who had 109 yards after gaining just 61, 62, 63 and 67 yards in the previous four games with Chicago. “To do that, to put out that effort, and then to lose. All that thrown away.”

The Lions couldn’t keep the Bears from scoring on their last three possessions.

Butler kicked a 38-yard field goal to cut Detroit’s lead to 17-13 and start the Bears on their way to a 17-point final quarter.

“Everyone had more focus and and purpose then,” Harbaugh said. “They were all must drives.”

It was the fourth consecutive opening loss for the Lions, who rebounded last year from a 45-0 opening game rout by the Washington Redskins to go 12-4 and reach the NFC title game.