Calm and confident, he was reading blitzes, throwing the ball where he wanted and making all the right plays for the Chicago Bears. He made it look easy, escaping sticky situations with his hands or his feet.

And he made it fun.

"I don't know what more we could have asked Cade to do," coach Dick Jauron said after McNown turned in the best performance ever by a Bears rookie quarterback in Chicago's 28-10 victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday.

"The great thing for him is that he went out and did it," Jauron added. "The great thing for the team is that he went out and did it. We all thought he would. But to have it done and have it behind him now, we can continue to go forward."

McNown, the 12th overall pick in the draft, has started three other games when Shane Matthews was injured. But this was his first complete game, the first time he's been given control of the team and told to run with it.

He responded by throwing for 301 yards and four touchdowns, completing 27-of-36 passes. It's the first time a Bears rookie has thrown for 300 yards.

"I feel like I played OK. I don't feel like I did anything sensational out there," McNown said. "I got the ball to some exceptional athletes, namely Marcus Robinson, and he made some big plays for the team."

McNown wasn't perfect. He got off to a shaky start, going just 3-of-8 for 16 yards in the first quarter with an interception and a sack. But he settled down quickly, completing 24 of his last 28 passes. He was 6-of-6 on one scoring drive, 5-of-5 on another and 5-of-6 on a third.

He threw long TD passes of 42 and 36 yards, and short scoring hitches of 3 and 1 yards. He also scrambled nine times for 36 yards.

"He had good poise and he seemed confident out there," offensive tackle Blake Brockermeyer said. "We struggled moving the ball early on, but he never got discouraged. It was a good performance for him. A lot of the veterans will be behind Cade even more now. He showed he can go out and make plays."

He also understands his mistakes. His two interceptions came on the same play, a play-action pass downfield into double coverage.

"I've already asked that we never run that play again," he said.

With McNown playing as well as he did, Jauron's plan to bring him along slowly now looks like a smart move. While most coaches either throw their rookies right in as starters or let them learn for a year behind a veteran, Jauron did a little bit of both.

Matthews started, but McNown got in for at least a series each game so he could get a gradual introduction to the NFL.

The approach seems to have worked. The Bears are 6-8 and still in the playoff race, though just barely. McNown has thrown for 1,144 yards this season, only the third Bears rookie with a 1,000-yard season. The others were Jim McMahon (1,501 yards in 1982) and Zeke Bratkowski (1,087 yards in 1954).

"I've been in a situation where you throw a rookie to the wolves. It's a tough situation," said Brockermeyer, who was in Carolina when Kerry Collins started as a rookie. "I thought (McNown's development) was weird, just because I'd never been on a team that had done it before.

"Looking back on it now, I think it was a great thing to do," Brockermeyer said. "I think it's something you'll see other teams do in the future."