4 takeaways from Steelers controversial game against Bears
By Tommy Jaggi
The Steelers offense still can’t find ways to be efficient
Don’t let the 29 offensive points fool you; this was far from an efficient offense on Monday Night Football. While I would take this point total every game, not all of this was truly earned, and costly penalties from the Bears played a huge factor.
If you watched the same game I did, you witnessed a team that ran the ball in predictable situations and made some head-scratching decisions to stick with the run on second and very long — essentially electing to concede the drive.
You also may have noticed that this team is still desperate to create big plays with any sort of consistency. While Ben Roethlisberger was able to find James Washington down the field (on a very underthrown ball) as well as Diontae Johnson on a slant that he ran for 22 yards (mostly after the catch), this wasn’t an efficient performance from the passing game.
Yes, Ben had a pair of touchdowns but threw 30 passes for just 205 yards (6.8 yards per attempt). According to ESPN, his QBR (47.8) was also worse than Justin Fields’ (54.4).
Pittsburgh’s offensive line also struggled in this one, and the running game failed to get going. Najee Harris averaged just 2.8 yards per carry on 22 attempts. The Steelers were fortunate to post their highest scoring output of the season, but they have to be more efficient if they want to put up points with any sort of consistency.