Game Thread: WEEK 9...vsCHI - Monday Night

[thedddd]

This is yet another game they should win, but I have a feeling Fields will have his best performance.
Good news is they figured out a way to stop a great pass rusher last week, wonder if they can adjust and keep Mack away from Ben.

Week 9 Injury Report (Bears)

A look at player injuries and practice participation for Week 9

www.steelers.com

Item of note on the injuries:
TE Eric Ebron (Ankle) - Limited

Can someone just kick him in his ankle, so there is no opportunity of him playing?

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Like I said in my recap of last week… they have a pretty decent formula for these runner type QBs. If they can limit Lamar twice a year and shut down Josh Allen then they shouldn’t have a problem with Fields.

That said, I fully expect Fields to have a career day.

 

[thedddd]

Like I said in my recap of last week… they have a pretty decent formula for these runner type QBs. If they can limit Lamar twice a year and shut down Josh Allen then they shouldn’t have a problem with Fields.

That said, I fully expect Fields to have a career day.

Isn't it sad that during the Tomlin era we got so conditioned to the fact that any marginal QB seems to have their best games ever against the Steelers? Or it seems that way?

 

[jwolt92]

Just chiming in on this game, I think the Steelers put up 2 defensive touchdowns and coast the rest of the way. Bears defense made the 49ers offense look unstoppable last week.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Isn't it sad that during the Tomlin era we got so conditioned to the fact that any marginal QB seems to have their best games ever against the Steelers? Or it seems that way?

I have learned to fear backups more than starters lol. If the Steelers don’t have film on someone then all hell breaks loose

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Bears final injury report:

OLB Mack - OUT
RB Williams - OUT
QB2 Foles - OUT
TE Holts - OUT

S Jackson - DOUBTFUL

LB Ogletree - QUEST.
WR Mooney - QUEST.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Damn the Bears defense without Mack & possibly Jackson is going to be very different.

 

[Pure Steel]

Cracking some beers to get ready for the game, it would be nice to have an easy win, but who am I kidding......Probably be the usual life and death win.......or loss

 

[Pure Steel]

Here we go…..

 

[Pure Steel]

Sickening

 

[thedddd]

They got very lucky. The Ray Ray fumble got the Bears back in the game. This game should have been over in the 1st half but their offense is still so bad they can't run up a score.

 

[Pure Steel]

They got very lucky. The Ray Ray fumble got the Bears back in the game. This game should have been over in the 1st half but their offense is still so bad they can't run up a score.

Yup, just can't put teams away.....have to sweat out every win......

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

This team is just wildly inconsistent... you never know what you're going to get from quarter to quarter. And it's troubling that the 2nd half defense is becoming a serious problem. Is it Butler failing to adjust? Or is it the defense getting gassed? Combination? The Bears had 127yds at half, before erupting for 287yds in the 2nd half. The Bears were averaging 264yds per game (32nd in the league), and the Steelers coughed up 414 total yds. Not good at all.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Coaching... Congrats to Mike for his 150th win. As he likes to say, "throw style points out the window". This team somehow keeps finding a way to win ugly, and keep pacing within the division. Having a hard time understanding the offense: 1st & 2nd down inefficiencies setting up 3rd & long and Canada's plays rarely get players past the sticks, 2nd or 3rd & short (1-2yds) seems to be a gigantic struggle to achieve and has too often resulted in the team needing to go for it on 4th downs. Seeing lots of window dressing (presnap motion) with very little actual successful results & often has become too predictable. Motioning the outside receiver in next to the TE and running it every time. I can appreciate sticking with the run despite minimal success, but once again it looked more like Canada was forcing runs against stacked boxes. I still suspect there is a disconnect with Canada & Ben. Doesn't seem that Ben has much of the command that he used to have. Defense allowing a 2nd half collapse was tough to watch. They were put in bad position many times by the punter & obviously Ray-Ray's muff. But they were bleeding yards in the 2nd half. Bears achieved 21pts in the 4th qtr alone, and they achieved their season's total yards per game in a single half. Not good at all. C-

Offense... Offensive line regressed in this game. Blown assignments all throughout. Green getting blown off the ball has been a theme of his rookie season, and has been a troubling factor in the run game. Moore struggling against a backup OLB was also hard to stomach. Ben struggled to find breathing room & passing lanes but he still managed to not turn the ball over once again which has proven to be a big part of this struggling offenses' minimal success. And his final drive he played with a ton of confidence, which was good for his 50th game-winning drive of his HOF career. I just wish we saw that level of confidence earlier in the game, but I get it. His OL hasn't given him much trust. The formula for success, aside from Najee & the run game, has included getting Freiermuth more involved which has produced great results. Still waiting for this passing game to fully unlock its potential though. C+

Defense... Tale of 2 halves. Couple things that I thought was very noticeable was the dropoff in play during relief snaps from the backup OLBs & the slot CB was abysmal. Charlton (16 snaps) & Tuszka (6 snaps) were getting bullied out there in the run game. Taco made some decent plays at the LOS when the runs went away from him, but most every time they ran at him he was driven back 3yds before the RB even crossed the LOS. Maulet has been serviceable this season, but last night was not his best performance. Would love to see Karl Joseph get more snaps over Maulet to get more out of that position. TJ & Cam are absolute monsters this year. And even though Highsmith isn't blowing up the stat sheets like we thought he would, he has been a steady force outside. Loved seeing Minkah lay the hammer a few times. Edmunds continues to struggle & make his pending FA a lot easier to stomach. C+

ST... Boz may have missed an XP, but he was clutch last night hitting twice beyond 50yds at Heinz in November. Not unheard of, but rare. Also a tip of the cap to the kickoff coverage teams; they were stout. But I have to knock the grade pretty hard due to Harvin & Ray-Ray. Shanking punts in cold weather defensive ballgames, and muffing PRs to turn the ball over is critically bad. Reports indicated the coaching staff stressed that Harvin not kick directly to Grant because of his dangerous return abilities, and IDK if that's a big factor in why Harvin suddenly was shanking punts but its not hard to believe it. C+

Overall... Uglier game against low level competition won't improve confidence in this team any time soon. They started out ok by slowly climbing up 14-0, but it never once felt like the Steelers were truly dominating their opponent. Averaging 7pts per qtr when your winning the field position battle is no way to win convincingly. And sure enough things started to get sketchy. I predicted a 23-20 win before the game, so I shouldn't have been surprised by the end margin of victory. The 4th qtr collapse is what I didn't expect. This game shaved years off my life. C

Outlook... If you thought last night's game was stressful, just wait until next week's home game vs the 0-8 Lions. Every week is a brawl with this struggling Steelers team that labors through every drive, so buckle up. Lions have a great shot at getting their first win of the season.

 

[Pure Steel]

 

[thedddd]

This team is just wildly inconsistent... you never know what you're going to get from quarter to quarter. And it's troubling that the 2nd half defense is becoming a serious problem. Is it Butler failing to adjust? Or is it the defense getting gassed? Combination? The Bears had 127yds at half, before erupting for 287yds in the 2nd half. The Bears were averaging 264yds per game (32nd in the league), and the Steelers coughed up 414 total yds. Not good at all.

That is my only thought. Look at the big plays to Robinson where Maulet was left out on an island. I guarantee they noticed that at half time and exploited that in the second half. It always seems they try to play off talent vs scheming to stop the other teams offensive adjustments.

I take into account the games Watt missed. Did they change their game plan for a less talented pass rusher? Nope they fully expected the same results with lesser players.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

That is my only thought. Look at the big plays to Robinson where Maulet was left out on an island. I guarantee they noticed that at half time and exploited that in the second half. It always seems they try to play off talent vs scheming to stop the other teams offensive adjustments.

I take into account the games Watt missed. Did they change their game plan for a less talented pass rusher? Nope they fully expected the same results with lesser players.

Hard hitting truth here. And you are absolutely correct. Forgot about the CIN game lol. Watching Tuszka try to play Watt's position for 60% of the snaps was beyond painful and they did very little to help him.

Fitzpatrick & Edmunds need to "cheat" over the opposing talent better. Maybe not at first, but late in the game when everyone is tired. Give help where its needed the most & obviously where you're being exposed the most.