Windy City Gridiron
The Cardiac Bears strike again! Although most headlines about this game focused on the status of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback situation, history told us it would be a close game until the end. Well, history did not lead us astray, even if some fans wish the Bears would develop a better habit for closing out games when they have the chance. In the end, Chicago finally beat a team over .500, and finds itself at (8-3) heading into a short week on Black Friday against the NFC East-leading Philadelphia Eagles. Before we quickly turn the page to Week 13, let’s do a deeper dive into Sunday’s exciting win.
1. You Didn’t Think It Was Going To Be Easy, Did You? More On Another Last-Drive Win For The Bears.
Cue the infamous “Holes” meme: “I’m tired of this, Grandpa!”
The Bears might be winning games, but they are taking years of life with their fanbase in the process. Whew. It was yet another game in which this team held a commanding lead late but couldn’t find a way to seal the deal until the final drive. Although, to their credit, they rebounded nicely after a pretty lackluster first half that had them going into the locker room down 21-17.
Despite scoring 31 points, it was another somewhat uneven day for the offense. They weren’t terribly effective running the ball, and quarterback Caleb Williams’ accuracy wasn’t there (hence his 54.2% completion rate. On the flip side, many will see 28 points against and assume that the defense had another rough day against the offense. Considering the context of injuries, I thought the defense played a heck of a game. Seven of those points came off Williams’ strip sack in the end zone, but for the most part, they did an impressive job of limiting the Steelers’ offense, especially in the passing game.
There’s no real way around it– this team is banged up, and despite reinforcements on the way soon, the injuries just keep on coming. We’ll dive into that more in a bit, but any time someone forces the “strength of schedule” narrative, the injury discussion is a noteworthy rebuttal.
In the end, the Bears (obviously) outscored the Steelers, but they also outsacked them and were far more productive in the passing game. The rest of the numbers were relatively similar, but at the very least, they checked the box of beating a team over .500 to prove that they are genuine playoff contenders. Now, if they could just figure out a way not to give their fans heart attacks in the process, we’d be cooking with grease! For now, I guess we’ll just have to keep enjoying the wins, no matter how they come.
2. The Injuries Keep On Coming… More On Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and running back Roschon Johnson Heading To Injured Reserve On Saturday. Then Came Game Day.
It has been quite a while since the Bears have had as many long-term injuries in one season as they’ve...
