Behind the Steel Curtain
This week’s Steelers and Bears game features a matchup of surprising first-place teams. If you had polled around the NFL media and fanbases this summer, you likely wouldn’t have heard many predictions that Pittsburgh would be in first place this late in the season, and you’d have likely heard even less support for the Bears. With the Lions, Packers, and Vikings making playoff runs last season, there was cautious optimism at best for the Bears. Chicago had managed to hire away offensive guru Ben Johnson from rival Detroit this offseason, but there were still plenty of questions about their young quarterback.
How will the Steelers fare against the upstart Bears? Can Pittsburgh stack another win to keep the Ravens at bay and maintain their division lead?
Let’s dive in.
Rushing YPG: 146.6 (2nd)
Passing YPG: 227.2 (13th)
PPG: 25.8 (8th)
RB: What a difference a year makes.
In 2024, the Bears went 5-12 and finished with the NFL’s 28th-ranked scoring offense.
Now, they’re 7-3, leading the NFC North, and putting a top-10 offense on the field.
The big change this offseason, of course, was Chicago hiring former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson as its head coach. Johnson was already seen as one of the most brilliant offensive minds in football, but his time with the Bears thus far has shown he has the leadership qualities to turn one of the NFL’s most struggling franchises into a possible contender.
As you could probably expect, Johnson’s Bears offense has plenty of similarities to the one he ran in Detroit. Chicago loves its bunch sets, condensed formations, and under-center dropbacks. It’s built around a strong run game, with the league’s third-highest play-action rate (31.3%) forming the foundation for the passing game.
The central on-field figure in the Bears’ transformation this season is second-year quarterback Caleb Williams, the first-overall pick in 2024 who has become a polarizing figure among NFL fans.
Williams had a bumpy rookie season, to put it nicely, although his surroundings – including a midseason firing of his head coach – didn’t help things (There’s an entire rabbit hole here if you’re interested).
Under Ben Johnson, the inconsistencies and bad habits that plagued Williams as a rookie haven’t gone away completely, but he looks more comfortable in structure as a whole. There was a raging NFL Twitter debate earlier in November around this exact topic, regarding if Williams should’ve hung in the pocket against the Giants and made this throw much earlier than he did:
Ultimately, the play highlighted some of the greatest strengths and weaknesses of Williams’ game – even though, like most young passer,s he can be a little quick to rely on his escapability and athleticism, those are the same talents that can lead to the sort of plays that separate good quarterbacks from great ones.
I can’t understate just how slippery Williams is in the pocket. The Bears have the longest time to throw in the NFL by...
