On a special Saturday night edition of Monday Night Football on ESPN Detroit Lions’ wide receiver Calvin Johnson broke San Francisco 49ers’ Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice’s single season receiving yards record.
In 1995 Jerry Rice set the record with an incredible 1,848 receiving yards. In the last month of 2012 with two weeks left in the season the man dubbed “Megatron” has done better. What’s scarier? There’s still one game to go left for Calvin Johnson to break 2,000 yards.
Entering the game Johnson needed 181 yards. Late in the 4th quarter with four yards to go he broke free for a 26 yard reception. Record broken.
Unfortunately for the Lions and quarterback Matthew Stafford, Megatron’s gargantuan effort did not help the team win. The Atlanta Falcons clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs with a 31-18 win and dropped the Detroit Lion’s disappointing record to 4-11 on the season.
In 1995 when the Jerry Rice set the record, the 49ers lost to the Green Bay Packers in the first round of the playoffs.
Calvin Johnson set more than just the single season receiving record though. He also set the record for consecutive 100 yard games by a receiver in a single season, a record that had been shared since Michael Irvin tied Charley Hennigan’s 1961 record in 1995.
After the game Calvin Johnson told the media:
“It’s a huge accomplishment to take one of those records from the great Jerry. All the work that we put in this year, I guess you can say it’s well deserved.”
And about the possibility of being the first wide receiver to get 2,000 yards in a single season:
“After a game like this, it becomes very realistic.”
Now at 1,892 yards, Calvin Johnson needs only 108 yards to break 2,000. For the man who has caught for 100 plus yards in eight consecutive game it does indeed become “very realistic.”
Do you think Calvin Johnson will pass 2,000 receiving yards next weekend?
