Written by Brett Solesky | 18 September 2009

Watching the video of the Steelers vs. Titans game for some pre-game scouting I came to one simple conclusion, the Bears can beat the Steelers if they play as well as they should.  The Bears should not be afraid to run the football, given just how good Matt Forte is they should line up an/d do what they failed to do against the Packers. 

Running the football will be the best way for the Bears to slow down the exotic blitz packages that the Steelers will run at Jay Cutler all day long.  Sure there will be times where the Steelers can pin their ears back and come at Cutler with everything they have, but that shouldn't happen unless the Bears are down by two touchdowns.  Given just how low scoring and unbalanced the Steelers' offense is the likelihood that the Bears will be down two touchdowns late in the game seems pretty small. 

The key for the Bears will be how well they can actually sack Roethlisberger, bring him down and not let him extend out the play.  If he's allowed to pump fake, and run around like a chicken with it's head cut off, like he did against the Titans the Bears will lose. 

I should preface the idea of the Bears shutting down the Steelers run game with the realization that Brian Urlacher won't be starting at MIKE and Hunter Hillenmeyer will be.  The Bears should shut down the Steelers' rushing attack, the Steelers have had one of the worst rushing attacks in the league lately.  They were 23rd overall in rushing yards last season and 29th overall for average yards per carry and things didn't look as though they were going to change much during the game against the Titans. 

In the game against the Titans, the Steelers flat out could not run the football.  They relied upon Big Ben to get the yards they needed to win the game.  He did just that with 363 yards passing in the game a lot of it coming on short stuff and stemming from an uncanny ability to extend plays by shrugging off sacks or scrambling away from pressure. 

The Bears have to step up their game once again facing this Steeler offense.  While at the same time being able to put the ball in the end zone.  One of the main things that has to happen for the Bears is that they have to score and be more consistent to have a shot at winning this game. 

The Steelers don't give up a lot of points on defense and last week the Bears didn't face a devastating Packer defense, they just played poorly on offense.  If the Bears duplicate their performance on offense from last week against Pittsburgh they will lose.  Pittsburgh does not make a lot of mistakes on defense so the Bears likely won't have a shot at making big plays, nor will they be able to put together a consistent enough drive to score. 

The Bears will have to rely on what failed them last week, creating turnovers.  They have to go back to causing turnovers and scoring points on special teams.  This will be a defensive slobber knocker of a game where if the Bears do score in bunches it will likely be due to an opportunistic defense.  Being Cutler and the offense with excellent field position and with a short field to work will be the key to knocking off the Steelers. 

I don't think the Bears will be able to  put together drives of 80-yards or more against this Steeler defense, if they do it's a sign of just how good their offense will be under the guidance of Cutler.  The best hope is that Danieal Manning on kick off returns and Hester on punt returns can put Robbie Gould in position to score points or for the Bears to complete enough passes to score touchdowns. 

This will likely be a better test for the defense because the Packers' offensive line isn't as effective at pass protecting as the Steelers on offense.  Aaron Rodgers isn't as mobile or solid in the pocket as Big Ben.  Cutler too needs to take care of the football, a lot better than he did last week.  The Steelers have a very good defense at forcing turnovers or offensive players into mistakes so the Bears will have to be on top of their game. 

Some of the best success the Bears may be able to have is getting the ball to Forte and Greg Olsen in the passing game.  Forcing the Steelers to cover more receivers than they can blitz will put the Bears in a good position to score or stretch out drives well enough to put points on the board.  Olsen needs to have a much better game than he did last week, this is one aspect where the Steelers struggle is allowing TEs to have big games.  What a shame that Desmond Clark won't be able to provide a threat in the same way Greg Olsen should. 

Hopefully Kellen Davis is able to step in and fill the void as a receiver.  To this point though the only success Davis has had in his career has been in the past two pre-seasons.  Davis wasn't anything more than a special teams performer last year and it will be key for him to be a part of this offense with Clark out. 

What needs to happen is that Jay Cutler needs to show he can bounce back and score points with this offense against a good defense.  The main point of focus will be how well Cutler handles the Steelers' pressure and whether or not the Bears can score.  If the Bears' defense can hold up then there's no excuse for the Bears to not put up at least 21 points in this game.  21 points whether via the offense, special teams or a touchdown on defense could be the difference between 0-2 and 1-1.

< Prev		Next >