The Steelers got by with a little help from their good friends the officials, surviving a potential mauling from the Bears at home on Monday Night Football.
The Bears were flagged 12 times for 115 yards in the game, including four offsides penalties in the fourth quarter and a key taunting penalty to extend a Steelers’ drive with 4 minutes to play. I’ve always been a friend of the officiating community.
New friend RB Najee Harris opened the scoring on the Steelers’ first possession with his third rushing (and fifth overall) TD. 7-0 PIT
After an exchange of punts, Cam Heyward recorded his second career interception. It was a great moment, but I think it will be overturned by New York for banned substances (lol).
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The Steelers’ next drive featured an fantastic catch from Diontae Johnson who was wearing his CB like a sweater at the yacht club (tied around his shoulders) and still made the grab. Three plays later this happened: 14-0 PIT
Chicago had managed only two first downs their first five possessions. They were finally able to string together 12 plays and kick a FG to get on the board :15 before intermission. HALFTIME SCORE: 14-3 PIT
The Bears struck first in the second half. They were helped along by a deep hookup to WR Marquise Goodwin that Tomlin challenged because he never had control of the ball, but the play stood as called. DE Cam Heyward gave great chase on a third down screen to prevent a TD, and Chicago settled for the FG. 14-6 PIT
It didn’t take long for the Steelers to respond. On their next drive Johnson and WR Chase Claypool both had rushes of 11 yards, setting up this beauty:
It seemed like the Steelers were preparing to run away with the game. Headed to the fourth quarter the score was 20-6 PIT (Boz missed that last PAT). Then Chicago came storming back.
The Bears scored all three of their TD’s in the fourth quarter and had a lead for exactly 80 seconds of this game. If you’re the Steelers you couldn’t pick a worse 80 seconds to trail a football game.
Fortunately we have a friend of our own who’s a fourth quarter ace: K Chris Boswell. He went 3/3 on FG’s in the fourth quarter – two from 50+ and the 40-yarder to reclaim the lead with :26 to play – one week after being concussed on that fake FG against the Browns.
We’d be remiss not to mention our other old friend Ben Roethlisberger, whose 50th career come-back drive ties him with Tom Brady for third all-time.
Having spent their final timeout trying to ice Boswell’s last FG, Chicago was limited in options. They were able to connect on a couple quick outs to get close to striking distance, but at the end it came down to a 66-yard FG attempt as time expired. It bounced three times before reaching the back of the end zone.
Old friend TJ Watt was back on his grind tonight, compiling 7 tackles, 3 for loss, 3 sacks and a huge pass break-up one the penultimate play of the game.
FINAL SCORE: 29-27 PIT, on to Detroit
Steely Cam 