| 23 September 2009
In part II of our video review session this week we'll break down the Bears on defense. I am truly going to thoroughly run through the tape on this one because without question there were a lot of things the Steelers did right and put themselves in position to win this game. Let's face the facts and be blunt about it, the Bears should have lost this game were it not for two missed field goals and a Tillman INT inside the 10-yard line. The Steelers overall ran the ball pretty effectively too, better than they have in quite a while. Yes none of these facts takes the win off the board nor does it take away from the significance of the victory. One thing is for certain however there needs to be a lot of improvement in the defense from week two on. Balanced offenses like that of the Vikings, Packers, Falcons and Eagles could do a lot of damage to this defense based on the initial impressions of the defensive play in this game.
Steelers with their bunched up trips formation again, single back they run out of it this time. The DTs get cleared completely out of the play though I'm not able to detect if Tommie Harris is in on this play. I'm guessing not since Idonijae is in and he usually mans the three technique spot. Bears came with a heavy A and B gap blitz with their LBs, Afalava in the box mans the gap the running play comes to. Ward tries to block Afalava one on one, but the rookie easily sheds the block and makes the tackle. Afalava could grow into a This is not to say that the defense didn't make big plays in critical situations, it did but there are still subtle signs that are a major cause for concern. To get a better idea of what those concerns are and what can be done to fix them I'll wait no further and get to the Steelers' opening touchdown drive of 92-yards.
Bears on defense possession one
There aren't any significant changes to the starting group, some would argue Danieal Manning for Kevin Payne, but it's apparent that Payne is a strong safety for life. Hillenmeyer and Roach start in place of the injured Tiniosamoa and Urlacher. Although it's nice to see Zack Bowman in there ahead of Nathan Vasher
First and ten Steelers, off-set I-formation Steelers Hines Ward comes in motion, Bears stack nine in the box to immediately attack the run. Bears now with 10 in the box as Ward stops in a wing back spot as the ball is snapped, and the Steelers run the ball. This first play instantly sets me off with the undisciplined play of Hunter Hillenmeyer. I have no idea what gap he's attacking or why he's attacking the gap he is. There is no counter move to the gap he's attacking, there's no pulling by the guards, nothing. Hillenmeyer attacks the gap and just like everyone gets completely blown out of the hole on this play. Tommie Harris gets swallowed as the Steelers collapse down hard on him and O-gun. The TE and the O-Lineman completely clear out that running lane and leave Charles Tillman as the man responsible for attacking the gap. Gain of six on the play as Nick Roach and Alex Brown run around from the back end of the play to make the tackle.
Second and four, Steelers with three wide set and throw a quick pass down th eline to Hines Ward. Ward is chased down the line and tackled by Zack Bowman. Briggs and Hillenmeyer are late getting to the pile, first down Steelers. Steelers out of a two TE set on first down, Bears in Cover-1 zone here. Roethlisberger sorta rolls out of the pocket, pump fakes and gets some late pressure. The pressure isn't of any significance by O-Gun, but the pass is overthrown with good coverage by Tillman. Tommie Harris is double teamed on the play with the Steelers in a max protection set. The Bears blitz Briggs who is stoned on his blitz (has Briggs ever in his career not been stoned on a blitz? he may be the worst blitzing Pro Bowl LB in the league). A wider camera view shows that Big Ben could have hit a wide open Hines Ward who ran a simple post route. There was no Bears defender with 10-yards of Ward and had Roethlisberger spotted him, it would have been a big play.
Second and ten Steelers try a power sweep and the Bears get down the line pretty strong in pursuit to stop Parker for a loss. The Bears have good speed with their linebackers so teams won't get outside on them much. No D-Lineman really made much disruption on this play they mostly held their ground.
Third and ten here Steelers with Roethlisberger in the shot gun, Tommie Harris sorta beats his man but runs into another blocker to get shut out of the play, the rest of the pass protection is perfect. The Bears in a Cover-2 nickel look get pumped fake three times because Roethlisberger has all day to throw. Holmes makes a catch for an easy first down and gets good YAC. A gain of 24 on the play, as the Bears get ZERO pressure from their front four and Roethlisberger just scans for an open receiver as the coverage breaks down.
A trips bunch formation to the right, single back formation, Bears with eight in the box here on first down. Four man rush Tommie Harris is double teamed, no stunts, no twists just a straight up the field rush and Roethlisberger has all day to throw again. Miller runs a five yard post right in front of Briggs' zone coverage Roethlisberger delivers and hits Miller in stride who then chugs forward into Bears territory for another first down.
First and ten on the Chicago 44-yard line Steelers with trips WRs again, Miller in the flanker spot Bears basic Cover-2 look rushing four. O-Gun gets brutally cut on his rush move. Holmes catches a little slip screen, it's well executed and blocked, Steelers have blockers at the third level already and Holmes needs only to weave through traffic to pick up another big gain. Kevin Payne with a huge missed tackle which give Holmes even more YAC than he deserves. Holmes only goes down because he falls down all on his own. On first down it's Willie Parker on a little off-tackle play. Al Afalava steps up, sheds a block and makes the tackle. Bears show a multiple man front for a possible blitz. Come with a blitz on the outside picked up, Roethlisberger hits a big slant pass, out of man coverage. Tillman on the tackle. Willie Parker a gain of two on the run with the Bears showing eight men in the box again. Tackle by Briggs on this play. Fake hand off to Parker, Miller chip blocks and then slides open into some space in the zone catches the pass and gets down to the four. Afalava with a great open field tackle on this play, there should be no doubt why he starts with the way he tackles.
Five wide receiver set on third and goal a quick slant, just another strong open field tackle by Afalava, his third of this drive to save the touchdown. Kid is an absolute beast and has been on my radar since draft day when I ran this prospect profile on him, since then he hasn't disappointed me or the Bears' scouting department. How ironic that the two best rookies on the team right now were drafted in the fifth and then in the sixth round.
Fourth and one for the Steelers as they line up with a power run look, roll Roethlisberger out on a play-action fake the TE Spaeth gets free and Roethlisberger nails him for the touchdown. Complete break down on the coverage as the entire Bears' secondary bit on not only the play fake, but Roethlisberger's roll out. Not sure who was supposed to be responsible for Spaeth's coverage because I don't know what defense the Bears called here. All I know is that everyone bit on the play-action so everyone is to blame.
Steelers lead quick 7-0 take over after another three and out.
Bears on defense again down 7-0 drive starts at Steelers' own eight yard line.
Steelers come out with a run, Lance Briggs almost knows exactly where the Steelers will run the ball attacks that gap and drops Parker for a loss. Adams and Harrison are the DTs on this play so the point of attack held up really well with two DTs in there. Bears with eight in the box on this play Steelers our of the I-formation. Nothing really special about it just lining up and stuffing the run. Hillenmeyer however was man handled on the play even though it went for a loss of one.
Bears in a nickel cover-2 look here, Steelers with a single back wing formation Briggs choked up looking like he's going to blitz on second and 11 here. Roethlisberger changes up the play based on the look he sees pre-snap, Briggs backs off the blitz, Steelers had it off run blocking is superb against the front four with lineman easily getting to the second level to attack Hillenmeyer and Briggs. Parker gets a gain of a 11 on this extremely well executed run play. Marcus Harrison slipped on the turf and was pancaked as a result. Everyone was simply cleared out of the running lane. Just not good defense on any level on this play. Tommie Harris was not in on this play for those who want to say this big gain by Parker was Tommie Harris' fault.
Steelers in the I-formation with the TE sorta lined up as a wing/slot back here. Bears with eight in the box preparing for run defense. Steelers roll Roethlisberger, Harrison applies some late developed pressure, Roethlisberger hits his receiver in the flat who turns up field and gains nine yards after Manning misses a tackle. Harrison had a sack should have never put for as much effort to try to deliver a big hit. Harrison would have made the sack had he been a little more controlled with his rush on Roethlisberger. Instead the pass goes for good yardage when there should have been an easily loss on the play. Again Tommie Harris out as the Bears rotate their DTs and do so on a consistent basis. Second and one Bears with eight in the box ganging up on the run here. Steelers double TE set with the FB in the I-formation here. Bears over pursue hard on this play, O-Gun breaks contain and is easily blocked to the turf giving Parke a major cut back lane. He hits the lane easily and gains more big yards. Steelers are easily getting a lot of their O-Lineman to the second level and it's killing the Bears on defense here in the first quarter. The Steelers are lining up and flat out kicking the Bears' asses here. Power football the Bears have no answer for right now against a team that has struggled to run the football.
Make no mistake about it, if this was Adrian Peterson of the Vikings the Bears would be in a serious amount of trouble. Not even the end of the first quarter and the Steelers have 124-yards of total offense, not the type of defensive play that inspires confidence, even with the win in the bag after this game. Steelers run the ball again and someone forgets to block Alex Brown on the trap. Brown blows up the trap block, blows up the run play and drops the RB for a loss.
End of the first quarter
Of note Roethlisberger completes nine of his first ten passes including eight in a row in the first half. Steelers are running the ball extremely well against this Bears defense, regardless of the personnel. Whether it's Anthony Adams or Marcus Harriosn or Idoninjae the Steelers are having their way with the Bears' defense. Save for a nice play by Briggs, a nice play by Brown most all the plays have been good for yards they were designed to achieve.
Second and 15 here Roethlisberger out of the shot gun with a back next to him...Steelers four wide, Bears look like they're in a cover-2 set. Bears creep up showing blitz, and then Briggs slides out over the weak side of the formation to help double the wing back. Briggs with a nice tackle here on the coverage as the back tries to slip out of the backfield in front of his zone area. Bears run a nice stunt and get eh a little pressure not much really and Roethlisberger goes with his first read. Minimal gain on this plass play, Briggs with around his third tackle or so just on this drive alone.
Third and ten now Bears come with a big blitz and some pressure but Hines Ward settles right into the zone catches the pass and gets a big gain and a first down out of it. Roethlisberger was working out of the shot gun with a three receiver bunch set and a wing back lined up with the two receivers to one side. Bears single zone man to man here with a blitz that only gets a bit of pressure. Roethlisberger bides enough time to deliver a major dart for a big first down for the Steelers. Gain of 21 on the play, no coverage anywhere here.
10 straight completions for Roethlisberger to start the game. The Bears have no answer for the Steelers' passing game right now. Teams with balance are going to eat this up, Bears fans beware of this time of execution against this defense. Regardless of the personnel the Steelers are moving the ball with absolute ease in the first half here.
The Bears finally do something right on defense as Alex Brown gets good pressure on a hard rush move to the inside and gets a shot on Roethlisberger. The pass is severely under thrown and Tillman makes the pick here. I wouldn't say the Bears buckled down here, as much as a big time player made a big time play....great pressure by Alex Brown with a nice hit on Roethlisberger forces this INT.
Bears move the ball a little on offense gaining two first downs, the first time all game they moved the ball enough to get a first down. However they stall and the Steelers get back on offense.
Bears on defense 9:39 to go in the first half, Steelers start on their own 22 yard line. Steelers again with a trips formation, single back with a wing back look. Bears gang up to stop the run with eight in the box. A little cover three umbrella look is what the Bears show, Bears creep the safety up, Steelers with a quick snap and a quick throw down the side line. It's thrown just behind the receiver so he slides makes the catch but then is stopped . Minimal gain of three really to speak of here on first down.
Steelers with a three receiver, single back set on second and seven here. Bears with a little cover-2 look again, Roethlisberger changes the play at the line, Bears follow suit with their own little defensive audible. Bears show blitz but don't come, Steelers a quick pass down the line that gains a few yards. Danieal Manning takes a bad angle in defense of this play and misses the chance to stop the play for less yards than it ends up going for. Steelers five receiver set Roethlisberger in the shot gun, Bears with a four man front. Bears do a lot of pre-snap shifting in defense of this five receiver look, on third and three. Bears call time out.
Steelers again with an odd bunch formation with four receivers in, Bears counter with a strong front that looks they're loading up for a blitz. Bears bring only four and drop into zone, Roethlisberger completes a pass for an easy first down on this play. Steelers again bunch formation with the wing back, Roethlisberger out of the shot gun Bears a standard Cover-2 look to match up. Showing a bit of a blitz look the Bears bring the pressure, Roethlisberger to Holmes with Tillman on the coverage and Holmes drops it. Ball goes right through his fingers. Second and ten as the rain comes down on the newly sodded field, Steelers another single back bunch receiver formation. Bears showing blitz with Briggs and Hillenmeyer lined up in the gaps. Anthony Adams beats the run block and drives into the gap and makes a nice stop on the play. Loss of a yard makes it third and 11 to go on this questionable run call.
Steelers another four receiver set with back in the shot gun with Roethlisberger. Bears standard nickel Cover-2 defense here, showing the blitz look that they've been showing now for two years. False start makes it third and 15 on this play. Steelers trying to bunch up the receivers in an effort to spread the Bears open with the number of receivers they have on the field. Roethlisberger out the shot gun. Bears bring the house on the blitz and Roethlisberger launches a ball that's deflected. However they were off-sides so they repeat the down, no third and 10. Tommie Harris initially double teamed to help the guard engage, the center then slides over to pick up the blitz. The blitz does get a little pressure to force the incompletion.
Third and ten now Bears come with the LBs showing blitz with a standard Cover-2 DB look. Steelers again with the three receiver wing look with Roethlisberger in the shot gun and a back in as well. Bears do blitz, but it's picked up very well, Roethlisberger passes to Holmes way too high he's unable to come down with it. Bears force their first punt after the Steelers make a few mistakes on this drive. Forced to punt to the Bears.
Bears come back tie the game up at 7-7, end of the first half.
Bears give up a lot of yards in the first half and the Steelers slow themselves down with a couple penalties and a couple bad throws. Defense is still extremely shaky and unable to really make Roethlisberger flinch. He stands in there and is mostly accurate with this throws.
Start of the second half Steelers get the ball first and the Bears go out on defense immediately.
First and ten here for the Steelers as they line up in the I-formation once again, double TE single WR look. Bears crowd the line with eight nine in the box, wing back comes in motion (the TE). Tommie Harris gets decent penetration on this play as he drives down the line of scrimmage really hard, his penetration slows the RBs approach to the hole which allows the rest of the defense to make a play. While not the most spectacular of plays by Tommie Harris, it is an acceptable play that helps the Bears to shut down the first run of the second half. Harris helped others around him be better on this play.
The Steelers with 160 total yards of offense in the first half alone. A standard three receiver set here for the Steelers on second and ten after the no gain on the run play to start the second half. Bears bring a heavy blitz and the quick pass in a low ball that is essentially in the dirt. Just a bad throw here as Roethlisberger panicked a bit with the blitz.
Third down for the Steelers here, Bears show a big blitz, with a Cover-2 over look. Bears drop back into a good middle of the field zone and make their best pass coverage play of the game on a well thrown ball when Hillenmeyer knocks the ball down. The Steelers are starting to self destruct and make bad throws, but this was a good defensive call and execution, best defensive stand of the night and it only took one half of football to accomplish it.
Bears on defense 12:15 left in the third quarter. Bears' defense shows up on first down as the Steelers try a little zone block Iso run. Bears hold their ground and no one is able to scrape to Hillenmeyer who steps up and makes a tackle afer a gain of only two.
Bears show blitz drop back and Roethlisberger lasers a low throw. He's not on target on this play, purely his own fault rather than good defense. Roethlisberger out the shot gun, four WR set Bears show a blitz on third and eight drop into a zone, no pass rush whatsoever here and Roethlisberger completes the pass for the first down.
Roethlisberger rolls out on first down and there is no pressure or any coverage. He fires the ball to Holmes who drops a sure fire first down pass. Ball goes right through his hands and the Bears dodge another bullet. Second down and eight Steelers with a four receiver set, empty backfield look with Roethlisberger under center. Bears a standard Cover-2 look with the SAM showing blitz. Bears bring the blitz and get pressure, but Roethlisberger fires and completes for a gain of seven. Briggs makes a good tackle in the open field to ensure he comes up short of the first down marker. Third and two here Steelers five receivers with Roethlisberger out the shot gun. Pretty elaborate formation on third and short for the Steelers to be running. Guaranteeing a pass on third and short really limits the options and makes it obvious to the defense what they have to defend. Bad play call here by the Steelers. Tommie Harris is double teamed at the snap of the ball, Bears have good coverage down the field which allows Alex Brown to take his blocker out wide and then Brown cuts back in for the sack. This isn't really a good pass rush, rather a case of Roethlisberger holding onto the ball too long. Tommie Harris' double team block gives Brown all the room in the world to work back to the QB with his long outside move and then a quick jab step inside to get to Roethlisberger. Good coverage here by the Bears coupled with another dumb mistake by the Steelers.
Bears unable to drive and score, Steelers back on offense, Bears set to defend on a drive starting from their own 30-yard line. Steelers line up with a three receiver set, two bunched close together on the short side of the field, one receiver split wide in man coverage with Zack Bowman. Alex Brown gets good pressure initially but Roethlisberger slide steps it and delivers to Mendenhall who fall down, gets up and goes crazy make the Bears miss tackles and gets a gain of 10 yards. Absolutely inexcusable how this play went.
Steelers again on first and ten with their bunch formation, Bears with a Cover-1 zone look, Steelers single back Bears run blitz with Danieal Manning who makes his first career tackle of a running back behind the line of scrimmage. Okay that last part about Manning is an exaggeration, but it never seems like he steps up and makes plays like this. He makes a good one here though and deserves his props. Mark Anderson with a big lame brained penalty here as he gets hit with a big 15-yard personal foul penalty that gives the Steelers another first down after Manning's big play. Aye carumba...
Steelers with three receviers, one as a wing back one each split wide on either side of the formation. Bears ina cover one zone look, Steelers single back run a play right at Indonijae and Toeaina. Mendenhall gets a huge chunk of yards here as O-Lineman jump easily up to the second level and crush Hillenmeyer. Briggs shoots the right gap and misses the tackle with a nimble move by Mendenhall who gains over 30-yards on the run to set the Steelers up for their next touchdown.
Naked boot leg on first and goal as the Steelers take lead on Roethlisberger's touchdown 14-7.
Bears fail to move the ball on offense after the Steelers take the lead. Punt and the Steelers get good field position with 2:10 left in the third quarter.
Bears back on defense Steelers first and 10 and their own 36, three receiver set, with an off-set I-formation. Another big run by Willie Parker here excellent execution as O-Lineman get to the second level and seal off Briggs and Hillenmeyer. Parker gains 13 before being brought down. Piss poor defense is becoming the theme here today with the Steelers showing the ability to shoot themselves in the foot. The Steelers to this point have rushed for 63 yards in the third quarter alone. Jumbo formation here with a single receiver and an off-set I formation. Bears load up the box to stop the run Briggs gets a little penetration behind and just barely trips up the RB on this play.
Second and nine at the 50-yard line 56 seconds left in the third quarter. Steelers go with a three receiver set, single back they motion the back out of the backfield. Empty back field here on second and nine, Alex Brown gets good pressure the Steelers try to set up a screen but Roethlisberger leads the TE too much on the play third and nine.
Third and nine Bears play a Cover-2 look here, show blitzes by the OLBs with Hillenmeyer in the middle of it all. Roethlisberger from the shot gun, single back in the back field. Bears back out of the blitz, get no pass rush Roethlisberger nails Holmes for a big first down into Chicago territory putting them in FG range.
Heading to the fourth quarter with the Bears still on defense.
Another bunch receiver formation Bears with a Cover-1 look to defend it. Single back for the Steelers, Bears come with a hard blitz here get good penetration but the back still gets a positive chunk of yards here. All the way down to the Bears' 20-yard line for a gain of six. Second down and four a quick slant play complete in front of Bowman goes for the first down. Ball is moved inside down to the Bears' 13-yard line.
First and ten for the Steelers jumbo formation Bears in cover 1 Steelers off-set I with only one receiver split wide. They throw to Parker who gets decent yards but Lance Briggs makes a big tackle here to save it from putting the Bears in an even more complicated spot. Briggs did have a big game, a quiet big game that no one bothered to notice.
Second and seven from the 10 yard line here Steelers in the red zone here. Steelers three WR set single TE in the wing, single back set. Bears show a big blitz with a big man front as they always do, trying to cause that confusion, which hasn't really worked all that often. Alex Brown comes up with what might be the biggest defensive play of the game for the Chicago Bears as he gets into the back field untouched and drops the RB for a loss on this play. Why the Steelers chose not to block one of the best run defending DEs in the game is beyond me. He's dropped for a loss of two. Tommie Harris make a nice play out of this because of a swim move where he blew past the guard. This slowed the back enough with his penetration that allowed Brown enough time to get down the line to make this tackle. Underrated play by Tommie Harris here in the fourth quarter. Harris because he is able to slip the man that is supposed to take on head to head and that blocker falls to the ground, then takes on the pulling guard.
This is a play they do an instant replay on from behind the line of scrimmage. You can clearly see how this play went because of the difference in the 90-degree camera angle you usually don't get. This is a big time play by both Harris and Brown. Although Harris doesn't make the tackle on his own, his move slows the development of the play and allows Brown more time to get down the line in pursuit and make the tackle.
Third and nine Steelers with a three receiver set single back Roethlisberger in the shot gun. Bears in their standard Cover-2 look here yet going with that same blitz look. The Bears come with an immense amount of pressure over the A-gap with everyone getting penetration. Tommie Harris flies in and makes the real big hit on Roethlisberger.
Hillenmeyer initially gets his hands on Roethlisberger but it's Tommie Harris' hustle to the football that ultimately brings Roethlisberger down.
Steelers miss a field goal here as the Bears play their best defense of the game here. Two consecutive penetration plays by Tommie Harris here is the difference between a possible touchdown and a missed FG attempt. No one has bothered to notice this though and the overwhelming feeling among Bears fans is that Tommie Harris sucks.
Bears drive down and tie the game up at 14 after the defense wrestles away the momentum with Alex Brown and Tommie Harris coming up big in the red zone.
Bears on defense Steelers with the ball on their own 29-yard line with 6:15 left in the fourth quarter. Bears show overload bring the blitz Steelers quick slant complete gain of a couple yards. Briggs in on the tackle and he is having a good game here a quiet good game that again no Bears fans seemed to notice.
Steelers from the shot gun Bears Cover-2 Roethlisberger to Hines Ward for a first down. Steelers run the ball righa t the Bears on this play. RB Moore gets a big run takes it all the way down to the Chicago 43. Bears stacked the line but the execution in the run blocking was superb and the Bears have no way to stop this big gainer for another first down. Steelers inch into Bears territory.
Steelers in a bunch formation Bears showing nine men in the box versus attacking with a five man front the Bears are. Indonijae breaks through a double team and pressure Roethlisberger just enough to get him to miss a wide open receiver. Holmes slips, and Tillman slips, turf helps out the Bears. Bears cover-2 look showing a blitz front against a three receiver set and single back. Bears bring heavy outside pressure, Roethlisberger throws out the to the receiver for like a one man screen play, the pass is too high for the receiver to handle though. Bears were off-sides on this quick screen.
Second and five now after the penalty Roethlisberger out the shot gun drops back to pass with a three receiver formation. Bears in a Cover-2 with a blitz man front Bears bring heavy pressure Briggs gets in Roethlisberger's face and causes the pass to be severely under thrown. Third and five here again Roethlisberger out the shot gun, it's very redundant the offensive formations they run with the bunch receivers look but it has been effective for about 85-percent of the game if I had to guess. Bears bring a heavy blitz and pressure, Tommie's angle takes him away from the QB so that Briggs has a more clean gap to blitz through. The blitz is picked up, one O-Lineman falls down and as he's on the ground Tommie Harris makes a move inside to try to get Roethlisberger as he steps up to run. Harris semi-trips over the prone O-Lineman which allows Roethlisberger to get the first down.
Steelers first and ten at the Bears' 33-yard line now in field goal range here. Bears a cover-3 look here Steelers bunch receiver three man wide look. Single back they try to hand off to the RB Moore, but Tommie Harris is having none of it as he explodes through is gap and drops the RB for a loss. This is the Tommie Harris we all know and love that doesn't show up often enough right now, but still has the ability to make plays. Harris just makes one of the best plays of the game right here and he gets ZERO credit for it. This type of play should shut the collective mouths of a lot of his critics, but it doesn't.
It really wasn't even close as Harris attacked his gap so hard inside the guard didn't have a prayer to get hand on him. His explosion was so quick the guard was never in position to even get a hand on him. It was as if he was virtually unblocked on this play because he was so fast off the ball. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come, a sign that Harris can still be disruptive.
Second and 12 here with a three wide look with a single back, Roethlisberger under center here. Tillman slips on the pass coverage though the Bears get good pressure from a blitz. Even with Tillman slipping and the ball being completed in front of him, he still gathers himself enough to push the receiver out of bounds two yards shy of a first down.
Big third and two as the Steelers line up with a jumbo package, Bears line up with eight in the box. Power football versus power defense in a case of who wants it more. Tillman gets beat in coverage and gets away with a little tug on the jersey to slow down Holmes who has the ball go right through his hands after Tillman slightly tips it. He gets away with just enough of a tug that it literally wins the game for the Bears.
Steelers miss the field goal Bears drive down kick a field goal to win.
Now comes the harsh honest no holds barred assessment of the defense's performance in this game. 85-percent of the time the Bears played like absolute crap on defense. The Steelers did just enough at certain times to help the Bears out and keep themselves from winning the game. But the fact of the matter is the Steelers drove on the Bears consistently and constantly. Take away the Steeler misktakes and they win this game.
The Bears are lucky as hell to have come out of this game with a win. They did make a few clutch plays on defense on the back end of the field goal drives. The plays that led to the field goal attempts is when the Bears played their best defense of the afternoon. It's the only thing that kept them from losing this game and showed a lot of guts.
The Bears have a lot of I emphasize a lot of room for improvement on defense after this game. They were not impressive at all, the strong majority of the time. They did get the win, and that is what matters, a win is a win and no amount of criticism from me can take that W off the board.
But the fact of the matter is the way the defense played they were more often than not in a position to lose this game rather than win. Certainly the defense did not win this game, or perform at a level that should have allowed them to win this game. Two missed field goals, an under thrown INT and some dropped passes and penalties mostly cost the Steelers.
In the end the Steelers beat themselves and Jay Cutler was able to be consistent enough to move the offense down to score points. The bottom line is to win you have to score more points than your opponent does and the Bears did that. But they did it by the skin of their teeth and should be counting their lucky stars.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
