ALLEN PARK -- Jason Jones blocked a fourth-quarter field goal that would have given the Minnesota Vikings a four-point lead.
And Joique Bell made sure it didn't go to waste.
The Detroit Lions tailback gained a modest 62 yards on the day, but half of them came on the subsequent series to help set up a 33-yard game-winning field goal from Matt Prater.
Bell isn't lighting the league on fire or anything -- his 726 rushing yards rank 17th -- but he continues to pick up tough yards in crunch time, and prove why he's the Lions' best tailback.
"(Offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi) did a great job of sticking with the run," Bell said after the game. "We had a couple explosive runs in there, and we were able to go out there and capitalize on it.
"We went out there and got the job done."
The Lions' offensive line has struggled this season, but Bell continues to produce anyway. He's averaged at least 4.0 yards per carry in five of the past six weeks, and remained the Lions' preferred option at tailback even with the return of Reggie Bush the past two weeks.
It's because of his ability to shed tacklers, and fall forward even as he's going down.
He evaded the first tackler on at least eight of his 15 carries against Minnesota. A classic example was his first carry on that game-winning drive.
Bell took a handoff on the second play of the drive, and cut left when the hole wasn't there. He side-stepped a flying tackle attempt from Xavier Rhodes, then collided with safety Harrison Smith.
He continued to drive forward, pushing through Smith for 5 extra yards until a second defender, cornerback Antone Exum, finally pushed him out of bounds.
The result was a 15-yard gain that advanced Detroit near midfield.
"He can get the dirty runs for you," coach Jim Caldwell said. "His running style is one that he's a grinder. He's a tough runner, he's a gritty runner and he enjoys it down there.
"He enjoys the dirty work."
Caldwell noted Bell was averaging 4.6 yards per carry until he was called upon to drain the clock with three late runs, and also applauded his productivity through the air.
Bell took a flip from Matthew Stafford in the second quarter, spun out of a tackle and turned it into a 17-yard gain. He snagged a third-quarter screen with one hand and turned it into another 17-yard gain.
He finished with four catches for 41 yards overall. And that's not including a 29-yarder at the end of the first quarter that was wiped out by a holding call against Brandon Pettigrew.
"He was plugging it up between the tackles, making big runs for us, catching the ball out of the backfield for us, doing all sorts of stuff," Stafford said.
"We've asked him to do quite a bit, and he's shouldered the load."
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Source: http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2014/12/joique_bell_continues_to_do_th.html
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