The Steelers survived a late special teams miscue to escape with a win against the Bears
I think three of the aforementioned words aptly describe what transpired for the Steelers against the Chicago Bears. Those three words are ‘survived’, ‘miscue’, and ‘escape’. If you did not watch the game, consider yourself lucky as the heart palpations were aplenty, at least for me.
Under normal circumstances, with a 14-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, particularly on Monday night under the bright lights, I would have been able to relax a little bit. There’s no conceivable way the Steelers would blow a double-digit lead at home.
Let’s take a look at the first thing we learned.
No win comes easy for the Steelers, even at home on Monday night
I referenced previously that there was no way we would squander a double-digit lead at home on Monday night, but, I was almost wrong. Thankfully, we managed to pull it out at the end. After the fumble by Ray-Ray McCloud late in the fourth quarter that was returned for a touchdown, we found ourselves having to battle for a win, when frankly, it should not have even gotten to that point.
According to ESPN, we did not have a great night on the offensive side of the ball, statistically speaking, but that was a result of having relatively good starting field position for most of the game. What really bothered me more than anything else is that we gave up four sacks.
I am sure that Ben Roethlisberger would never throw the offensive line ‘under the bus’, but I will say it: The ‘O-line’ struggled against the Bears. Fortunately for us, we have ‘Big Ben’, who drove the offense down the field to set up a game-winning field goal. That is the difference between having a franchise and a future Hall of Fame QB as opposed to having just a QB.
Let’s take a look at the second thing we learned.