The Bears first road test has come and pretty much gone (1:30 left, Conte just got the interception along with the Brown penalty). What looked like it was going to be a blowout early wound up being a much more interesting game than it should have been. However, in the end the Bears pulled away to win it 40-23. However it was much closer than the score shows.
Like I said, the Bears started off strong, pulling out to a 24-3 lead early. However, the Steelers found momentum in the second quarter, taking advantage of a Bears secondary that was just having a horrible night. Tillman was playing hurt, so that much can be understood, but outside of Major Wright getting a pick 6 and forcing a fumble, for most of the night the secondary was just bad. They don't have a bad secondary as a whole, but that was just bad.
The offense had its moments, but there wasn't a whole lot going on there either. 26 points still outscores Pittsburgh, but even then they had help from very good field position due to the defense creating turnovers. However, the Bears got the momentum back through a great drive in the 4th that saw Cutler make a big run for a first down as well as an amazing touchdown catch by Earl Bennett.
I'm still feeling a little bit empty after this one. Sure, the Bears won, and they did so with a final score that had them winning by 17, but they still allowed the Steelers to stay in the game. Credit Ben Roethlisberger, he took a lot of shots and just kept fighting. He did throw those 2 interceptions, but he did have 2 touchdowns as well, and he threw for over 400 yards on a solid completion percentage. Also, some of those throws he made were in the perfect spots, and from 30-40 yards away at times. As bad as the Bears secondary was, he was also really on his game.
Another thing I'll bring up, and it's something that I won't mention much, but the officiating in this game was terrible. On the first challenge there was an angle that clearly showed that Michael Bush's elbow hit the ground first. On another replay we clearly saw that the ball broke the plane before the elbow hit, therefore we had conclusive evidence that it was a touchdown. On the play before it was even more obvious, but it was like the officials wanted to make sure the Bears couldn't run away with it. That wasn't the end of it though, Pittsburgh's offensive line was holding on almost every play, and the referees never called it. I really wish the Bears would have started holding, because it was clear that the referees were not calling it. When they finally did call it near the very end it was almost comical, and almost like the referees were trying to make a joke by calling it. I won't fault them for not getting the Bennett call right near the end of the game the first time, that was a tough call, but when they screwed up that first review and let the call stand, it meant that the Bears were out of challenges. Luckily, on the potential Conte interception, the game was already in hand, or else that would have been huge. While I understand that on reviews it has to be conclusive, but that means that the referees should make sure they've taken a good enough look to make sure they've explored every option, it could make a serious difference later in the game if they let the call stand and it turns up big later in the game (between 2-4 minutes left, for instance (inside 2 goes to the booth)). It was just a really tough game to watch because of that. I don't normally complain about officiating, but when it's especially bad and as one sided (there was one hold the Bears got away with early, and Collinsworth made sure to mention it, ignoring all of the times the Steelers held (starting with their second offensive play from scrimmage)), I'm going to say something, win or lose, if it's bad, it's bad.
Anyway, that rant is over, I also want to make note about Henry Melton's injury. Whenever the cart has to come out, that's not a good thing. Hopefully it's something that doesn't end his season, but when you see a knee buckle like that, it's rarely something that ends well. Charles Tillman also sat out, as his groin got tight on him, but everything turned out okay for him, it was just the Bears being cautious with him, smart move on their part.
So, anyway, it wasn't pretty again, but the Bears got the job done and did it well. They're going to need to still clean a lot of stuff up, and that offense is going to have to be better, even though they were going against a good defensive team, they still need to be better. However, a win is a win, there's nothing that can take that away, and the Bears are now 3-0 for the first time since, if I remember right, the year they went to the Superbowl.
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