The Detroit Lions went three full seasons without winning an away game, setting an NFL record for road futility.

They ended that ignominious streak Sunday in their first opportunity of the season, beating the Chicago Bears 20-16 at Soldier Field.

Now, the Lions must show they can build on such a victory after 24 straight road defeats.

"This is a new team, new-look Lions with a lot of new faces and some old faces," said defensive tackle Shaun Rogers, who blocked a field goal and recovered a fumble. "We wanted to get off to a good start and I think we did that."

With lots of help from Bracy Walker, who picked up the blocked field goal and ran 92 yards for a touchdown. Walker also clinched a good start by intercepting Rex Grossman's pass into the end zone with 18 seconds remaining.

As satisfying as the victory was, though, the Lions might have had two big losses in the opener. Wide receiver Charles Rogers broke his collarbone for the second straight year and he could miss most of the season, just as he did in 2003. Pro Bowl cornerback Dre' Bly will have an MRI on Monday after spraining a knee ligament in the first quarter.

The loss spoiled Lovie Smith's debut as Bears coach.

"It was a tough loss. There were a lot of first-game mistakes," Smith said. "We had a chance to win it with all those things."

Having better luck in his head coaching debut was Jim Mora in Atlanta. The Falcons beat his former team, the 49ers, 21-19 in San Francisco.

Another new coach who lost was Mike Mularkey when his Bills surrendered a touchdown pass on the final play and fell 13-10 to the Jaguars.

Joe Gibbs' return to the NFL worked out better than Dennis Green's or Norv Turner's. Gibbs, coaching his first regular-season game in 12 years, guided the Redskins past the Buccaneers 16-10. But Green's Cardinals lost 17-10 in St. Louis, and Turner's Raiders fell 24-21 in Pittsburgh.

The season's first weekend began when New England beat Indianapolis 27-24 on Thursday night. Tennessee defeated Miami 17-7 on Saturday, a game moved up a day because of Hurricane Ivan.

Monday night's game features Green Bay at Carolina.

Michael Vick didn't have a big game, but Warrick Dunn rushed for two touchdowns and a defense that ranked at the bottom of the NFL in 2003 was solid for most of the game.Aaron Beasley returned a goal-line interception 85 yards in the fourth quarter, and Rod Coleman batted down Tim Rattay's pass on a 2-point conversion attempt with 40 seconds left."It may sound crazy, but I was extremely proud of our defense, and I was also proud of their defense," Mora said. "Those are some guys that I coached for a long time."

Visiting Jacksonville managed only 145 yards until its final drive. Then Byron Leftwich led the Jaguars 80 yards and his 7-yard toss to Ernest Wilford as time ran out won the game. That ended a nine-game road losing streak.The Bills entered the red zone three times, but scored only 10 points. And their defense folded in the end."This is one of those emotional lows," Mularkey said. "It was a little self-destruction, and when it came down for them to make plays, they did."

At Washington, Gibbs was hailed as a returning hero, and the Redskins' new running back, Clinton Portis, burst through for a 64-yard TD on his first carry.Tampa Bay finished with 169 total yards, just 30 rushing."I can't take any credit for that," Gibbs said after his 125th regular-season win. "All I do is walk down there and scream, 'Stop 'em!'"

At St. Louis, Marshall Faulk outran Emmitt Smith and the Rams rallied to win. Faulk, 31, coming off two knee operations in the last year, rushed for 128 yards on 22 carries. Isaac Bruce caught an 8-yard TD pass and Faulk ran in the 2-point conversion to rally St. Louis.Smith, the NFL's career leading rusher, also had a resurgent game, running for 87 yards on 16 carries, including an 11-yard touchdown run that put the Cardinals ahead 10-9 in the final minute of the third quarter. Smith, 35, was limited to 256 yards last year due to injuries.

At Denver, Quentin Griffin was a nice replacement for Portis.Griffin ran for 156 yards and scored three touchdowns. He befuddled Kansas City with touchdown runs of 25 and 47 yards and caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from Jake Plummer.Champ Bailey, who came to Denver in exchange for Portis, tipped away a pass to Tony Gonzalez in the second quarter on the first ball thrown his direction. He intercepted another just before halftime when Trent Green scrambled and tried throw over his head. Bailey even caught an 11-yard pass in the first half.

At Minneapolis, Daunte Culpepper had his best game, throwing for five touchdowns, two to Randy Moss. Culpepper was 17-for-23 for 242 yards with no turnovers and completed passes to nine receivers."He's just got to drive the car," coach Mike Tice said, "and it's a pretty nice car he's driving."Dallas's new passing combo of Vinny Testaverde to Keyshawn Johnson was quite effective, as well. The 40-year-old Vinny Testaverde was 29-for-50 for 355 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. His favorite target was Johnson, who caught nine balls for 111 yards.

Inspired by the celebration of the Browns' last championship, 40 years ago, the current Browns shut down Jamal Lewis, who rushed for 500 yards in two games against them a year ago. Lewis gained just 57 yards as host Cleveland dominated on both sides of the ball.Jeff Garcia threw a 46-yard touchdown pass and ran for another TD in his Cleveland debut.

Welcome to Philly, T.O.Terrell Owens caught three touchdown passes from Donovan McNabb, who threw for 330 yards and tied a career high with four TD passes. Brian Westbrook ran for 119 yards against overmatched New York. "This is what I expected. This is why I lobbied to get here," Owens said. "I'm loving it."Top overall draft choice Eli Manning made his NFL debut in the final minutes, handing off to Tiki Barber for a 72-yard TD run on his first play.

At Houston, where the game was delayed 10 minutes by a power failure in the fourth quarter, Drew Brees was 17-of-24 for 209 yards and two touchdowns. LaDainian Tomlinson had 121 yards rushing and a touchdown, while tight end Antonio Gates, who didn't play college football, made eight receptions for 123 yards.

Curtis Martin matched his rushing production for the first four games of 2003 with 196 yards and scored twice for the host Jets, who ruined the debut of 2003 No. 1 draft pick Carson Palmer."I knew I was prepared," Martin said. "I knew that I was ready. When you know you're ready, your confidence is higher."Palmer, who didn't play a down last season, made few mistakes, going 18-of-27 for 248 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.

Seattle was 2-6 in away games last season, but got off to a good on the road as Shaun Alexander scored twice on runs and once on a reception. Alexander rushed for 135 yards on 28 carries, but his knee was heavily wrapped after the game.Seattle outgained New Orleans 415 yards to 281 and outrushed the Saints 194-74. The Saints converted only three of 14 third-downs.

On Saturday, visiting Tennessee made three interceptions, including one in its end zone and another returned 37 yards for a touchdown by Lamont Thompson.