Windy City Gridiron
Through ten games, the Chicago Bears have been remarkable at finding ways to win. To this point, it has been against less talented competition. That changed as they entered Week 12 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, with 6 of their final 7 games against teams with winning records.
The Bears were without starting defensive players Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon, Tremaine Edmunds, TJ Edwards, Noah Sewell, and Dayo Odeyingbo. In their place, players like Ruben Hyppolite, D’Marco Jackson, and Amen Ogbongbemiga got the start.
After going 3-and-out on an uninspired first drive, Nashon Wright intercepted Mason Rudolph on his first pass of the season, adding to the Bears lead in turnovers in the league. The Bears marched down the field for a methodical drive, ending in a short touchdown pass to DJ Moore.
After a fantastic knuckleball kickoff by Cairo Santos that pinned the Steelers inside of their own 5 yard line, the injuries on the Bears defense started to prove consequential. The Steelers took the ball out of Rudolph’s hand and exclusively ran the ball and threw short. In a drive that was paved by overwhelming blocking by the Steelers and a lack of edge setting by the Bears, the Steelers finished a 95 drive with a touchdown pass to DK Metcalf.
Shortly after, and less than a minute into the 2nd Quarter, the Bears found themselves backed up against their own end zone. TJ Watt did a TJ Watt thing, and Caleb Williams tried doing a Caleb Williams thing, and Watt ended up winning. A strip sack of Williams led to a defensive touchdown by the Steelers. While Darnell Wright got beat pretty quickly, Caleb has to have more urgency when standing in his own end zone.
On the Bears next drive, Ben Johnson tried to establish the Bears strong rushing attack. A handoff to D’Andre Swift ended in a Pigpen like scrum, and somehow the Steelers emerged with the ball. This could have been a backbreaker for the Bears.
Down 14-7, and staring down a two possession deficit, the Bears stood tall against the Western Pennsylvania style tush push, which apparently looks like everyone watching everyone else push. Turnover on downs, and Bears ball.
Caleb Williams and the Bears then strung together a strong response highlighted by a 4th down conversion on their own side of the 50 yard line, a 15 yard scamper by Luther Burden, a 22 yard snag by Odunze, and a 12 yard Touchdown reception by Colston Loveland. Tie game, 14-14.
On their next possession, the Steelers found themselves in a familiar tush-push attempt on 4th down. This time, instead of marching forward with the younger brother Connor Heyward, they handed the ball off to Kenneth Gainwell for 56 yards. Next play they handed it off to Jaylen Warren for a score. 21-14 Steelers.
That wasn’t the end of the 2nd, however. The Bears managed a...
