The Pittsburgh Steelers began the day as the leaders of the AFC North and the No. 4 seed in the AFC playoffs; they will end the evening out of the playoff picture altogether. With the Baltimore Ravens winning their fifth consecutive game, and the Steelers dropping a 31-28 loss to the Chicago Bears, the Ravens now lead the AFC North, while the Steelers’ playoff hopes look slim at best.
Things wasted no time getting chaotic. After a three-and-out for the Bears, Mason Rudolph threw an interception on his
first pass of the game to Nashon Wright. The Bears turned that into a touchdown before Pittsburgh answered with a 95-yard touchdown drive, capped off with DK Metcalf finding the end zone.
The splash play that looked like it could be the deciding factor for Pittsburgh took place on Chicago’s ensuing drive. T.J. Watt stripped Caleb Williams of the ball in the Bears’ end zone, passing his brother, J.J., on the all-time sacks list. Nick Herbig recovered the ball for a touchdown to put the Steelers up 14-7. Yahya Black then forced and recovered a fumble on the Bears’ next drive, but the Steelers turned the ball over on downs. The teams exchanged touchdowns before the Bears kicked a field goal to make it 21-17.
Then things fell apart for the Steelers.
Pittsburgh had three drives in the third quarter; they went punt, punt, fumble. The Bears scored two touchdowns around those three drives to take a 31-21 lead. A 17-play drive that ended with a very good throw from Rudolph to Pat Freiermuth for a touchdown made it 31-28. After getting the ball back, the Steelers faced 4th-and-9 with just over two minutes left and three timeouts – Mike Tomlin punted. And while the Steelers got the ball back, it once again emphasized that the coach who claims not to “live in his fears” coaches scared more than any head coach in the NFL.
Rudolph led the Steelers just across midfield before they faced another fourth down. The Steelers had more than enough time to run the field goal unit on the field and give the best kicker in football, Chris Boswell, a chance to tie the game. Instead, Rudolph took the snap, had his pass deflected at the line of scrimmage, and the game was over.
The Bears turned three takeaways and a turnover on downs into 21 points. The Steelers’ horrid cover-three defense made a triumphant return, as Caleb Williams found holes all afternoon to the tune of three touchdown passes. Pittsburgh’s defense gave up 328 yards on 5.4 yards per play. While not terrible, the second half left a lot to be desired. In terms of Rudolph and the offense, it’s a similar story. The first half was terrific, even with the interception. They finished the game with 345 yards, and they were an efficient 8-of-14 on third down. To come out as cold as they did in the second half, though, really put the defense in precarious situations and was a large factor in the loss.
The bigger picture, though, is that the Steelers did what we all had a feeling they would do when they were 4-1 and the Ravens are 1-5; they choked. That’s why not beating the Cincinnati Bengals when they had Joe Flacco in the building for 10 days was such a big missed opportunity. That’s why you can’t blow a 16-7 halftime lead at home against the Green Bay Packers. Now, they are on the outside looking in with matchups against the Buffalo Bills, Ravens (twice), and Detroit Lions awaiting them. Not only have they completely choked away the division lead, but it looks more likely than not that they’ll miss the postseason altogether.
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