Calvin Johnson breaks single-season receiving record

Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson needed 181 receiving yards in the team’s final two games to break Jerry Rice’s single-season record of 1,848 yards set in 1995. Johnson didn’t feel like waiting until next week.

The sixth-year player out of Georgia Tech racked up 117 yards receiving on six catches in the first half of Saturday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons, and surpassed the record in the fourth quarter with his 10th catch of the game for 204 yards, 21 more than he needed to break the record.

It was his eighth consecutive game with 100 or more receiving yards, breaking the previous record of seven set by Michael Irvin in 1995. He also tied Irvin’s record for total games with 100 or more yards receiving in a season with 11.

With a big game — or just an average game for Megatron — next week against the Chicago Bears, Johnson could top 2,000 yards for the season.

Despite Johnson’s monster night, the Lions (4-10) trailed the Falcons, 31-15, with 2:57 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Now it’s Adrian Peterson’s turn. He needs 294 yards rushing over his last two games to break Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards. Oh, right, and J.J. Watt or Aldon Smith would break Michael Strahan’s single-season sack record of 22 1/2 if either of them could get at least 3 1/2 sacks.

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