Steelers Lose To Bears. What Happened?

If you watched the pre-game shows, the Steelers were a unanimous pick to beat the Bears and start the season 2-0. So, what happened? Could it be the defense or the offense, the running game, the kicking game? Well, let's see where do we start?

The Steelers offense has struggled off and on in the "red zone" many times in the past. Usually they can't score touch downs when they're inside the opposing teams 20 yard line, but now they can't even score a field goal. Jeff Reed had two chances in the final 11:37 to seal a Steelers victory and missed both times. Chicago's Robbie Gould did what Reed couldn't do, he kicked the ball through the uprights for a 44-yard field goal with 15 seconds remaining to give the Bears a 17-14 win over the defending Super Bowl champions.

Getting back to the offense; wide receiver, Santonio Holmes dropped two big catches on the sideline. He also drop a perfectly thrown pass by Roethlisberger in the end zone on a third down play. "You had to fight the elements. The rain did play a big part. You have to be professional about it." Holmes said. Both teams had to fight the rain which left the field soggy and the ball wet. There were many drops on both sides. Despite the rain, the Steelers ran for 105 yards on the ground against the Bears compared to only 36 against the Titans.

Roethlisberger really didn't do too bad though. He through for one TD and ran for another. If some of his passes hadn't been dropped, he would have had a great day and the Steelers probably would have won the game. But the Bear's Jay Cutler who threw four inteceptions a week ago, was not picked off once by the Steelers defense. He was able to stand in the face of the Steelers rush and keep the Bears in the game. Ben was 23 of 35 for 221 yards and one illadvised interception and Cutler was 27 of 38 for 236 yards. Very similar performances, but different outcomes.

Both teams were missing their best defensive players do to injury and it was apparent which one was missed the most. The Steelers Troy Polamalu is out for three to six weeks with a sprained knee and the Bears Brian Urlacher has a dislocated wrist. Although the Steelers defense kept the Bears under 300 yards of offense, there was a certain excitement gone from their midst. They pressured Cutler, but didn't wreak havoc like when Polamalu is flying around and making plays. I'm not sure he could have made a difference in this game, but there was different without him.

I had this game in the win column for the Steelers before the season started. Now as we look at their schedule and other NFC north opponents there's cause for concern. Because of mistakes made and the negative outcome of the game, the Steelers will have a lot to work on to get back to championship form. Hopefully they will bounce back against Cincinnati next week. And Let's hope Jeff Reed puts his best foot forward from here on out.