Top Ten Reasons Why the Bears Beat the Steelers

[mesaSteeler]

Top Ten Reasons Why the Bears Beat the Steelers
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/top-ten-chicago-sports/2009/09/top-ten-reasons-why-the-bears-beat-the-steelers.html
Matt Olsen on 09.21.09 | no comments |

After a rain soaked Sunday spent slipping and sliding across Soldier Field, the Bears walked away victorious in a game befitting for two of the toughest franchises in the NFL.

But as an honest Bears fan, I have a confession to make.

I had the 'Top Ten Reasons Why the Bears Lost' halfway finished long before they pulled this one out. Can you blame me? This is the Bears we're talking about. Late game heroics orchestrated by a Pro Bowl caliber quarterback doesn't happen to us.

Thankfully, it did, and here are the Top Ten Reasons Why the Bears Beat the Steelers.

Pittsburgh Steelers v Chicago Bears

10. The Field

I sure hope the Chicago Parks Department got a pile of money big enough to bury their heads in after the embarrassing shape Soldier Field was in on Sunday. But who are we kidding? In Chicago you can do anything for the right dollar amount, just ask Oprah and her little buddy Mayor Daley.

Yet, the field was a huge factor in Jeff Reed's two misses and was a key component in this Bears victory.
9. Kellen Davis Steps Up

Originally you may have mistaken Davis for one of the pillars outside of Soldier Field, but the 6-foot-7 TE stood tall as Desmond Clark's replacement with a crucial TD catch just before half time.

8. Hester Comes Up Big

With a few clutch catches in the game's biggest moments, Hester may have proved that he's more than just a burner who makes a living on pass interference calls.

7. Greg Olsen is Alive

Just when it looked like Olsen would pull another disappearing act, he made a huge 29-yard fourth quarter catch over the middle on the Bears last TD drive. We're still looking for a lot more from Olsen, but on a rain soaked Sunday he had just enough.

6. Peanut's Play

When trying to guess how the Steelers would attack this Bears defense, most of us probably thought they'd try to attack Zack Bowman instead of Peanut. Too bad that strategy didn't pay off as Tillman finished the day with a pick and a TD saving play late in the fourth quarter. At least we have one side of the field we don't have to worry about on defense.

5. Good as Gould

Chicks may dig the long ball, but we'll trade an occasional 50-something yard boot for Robbie Gould's consistency any day of the week.

4. No Turnovers

After last weekend's debacle in Green Bay, the Bears didn't turn the ball over a single time against the Steelers and the results speak for themselves.

3. The Birth of Johnny Knox

Ladies and Gentlemen of Chicago, we'd like to introduce you to the Chicago Bears' best receiver. Knox is the perfect blend of speed and toughness to go with the explosive arm of Jay Cutler.

2. Bend Don't Break Defense

Big Ben didn't find too much trouble marching the Steelers up and down the field, but that doesn't do you much good when you can't get into the end zone. Even though the middle of the field is open more often than a 7-Eleven, they made a stand when it was needed most.

1. Jay Cutler Killed It

At this point, you've probably ingested just about enough 'Jay Cutler is the Second Coming' articles written by guys who spent an entire week bashing him. So we'll just say that Jay made the plays you expect from a quarterback of his caliber and silenced those critics, at least for one week.

[eafratitpm3]

Although alot of your points are valid there is only one reason the Steelers lost this game. Our Defensive coordinator could not make an adjustment to the short passing game of the Bears which really surprises me. This game is a game of adjusting to what the other team is doing as evidence by the first drive the Steelers had. The Bears D made adjustments and the Steelers D didn't. Plain and simple. Good luck the rest of the year!

[The_WARDen]

It was Reed's missed FGs plain & simple. Even if he just makes one, it's OT.

Of course on the flip side, they won game 1 because a very good kicker in Bironas missed 2 FGs.

My major beef for this team is the inability of the offense to score points. It forces them to play close to the vest every game. When you do that, stupid things like a missed FG or a blown call kills ya.

This offense is flawed somehow. They have very good players in most positions and I can't even gripe about the Oline thus far because Ben actually has time for a change.

:noidea:

[eafratitpm3]

It was Reed's missed FGs plain & simple. Even if he just makes one, it's OT.

Of course on the flip side, they won game 1 because a very good kicker in Bironas missed 2 FGs.

My major beef for this team is the inability of the offense to score points. It forces them to play close to the vest every game. When you do that, stupid things like a missed FG or a blown call kills ya.

This offense is flawed somehow. They have very good players in most positions and I can't even gripe about the Oline thus far because Ben actually has time for a change.

:noidea:


Sure the Offense should be scoring points but you have the #1 defense in the league and you can't make adjustments to shut down two TE's and a Rookie WR, "em-BEAR-assing"!!!!

[Spidey]

It wasn't the D's finest hour . . .

But I'm pretty sure the New Orleans offense would have made this a very one sided game indeed.

No offence, its the offense!

we can hardly blame the field either!

[lamberts-lost-tooth]

What the Steelers need to do is at leat take a look at what Packers DC Dom Capers did to the Bears. And before you say it...Yes, we have the best DC in football, but Capers is a very competant coach and had the perfect game plan against the Bears.

The Packers shut down the TE's, forcing Cutler to go to his Wr's. Capers also kept switching from the 3-4 to the 4-3 to a nickel package throughout the game, which ate up the o-line

I posted this a couple of days before the game.

Beyond a doubt, it was obvious that the Bears TE's kept them in the game. Olson and Davis made critical catches at critical moments and were the Bears #2 and #3 recievers yesterday.

The field was awful but since we traditionally have one of the worst fields in the league I wont use that excuse. Reed cost us the game and had he made his two FG's all the other excuses go away and we are talking about what a wonderful job the coaches and players did.

Nothing against Reed. Everyone has a bad day and he has won too many games for me to stay down on him, but he would say himself that he cost us a "W".

Time to get ready for the Bengals.

[SteelerCRO]

10. Reed
9: Reed
8. Reed
7. Reed
6. Reed
5. Reed
4. Reed
3. Reed
2. Reed
1. Reed

It would be better if he didn't even show up for this game!

[revefsreleets]

The Bears are going to be VERY good this year...the NFC North, with the exception of the Lions, is going to wreak havoc on the NFC, and it is important to note that we played well enough in 2 of the 3 facets of the game to win. I believe if Reed had hit even one FG we'd have walked out of Soldier Field with the W.

That's the problem with playing close games...you MUST execute near perfectly in all 3 facets to win. A TO and 2 missed FG's cost us the game...and when we stripped the ball and it bounced right back to Olsen, I had a feeling that the karma Gods were pulling for the Bears that game.

We'll bounce back and beat the Bengals next week and much will be forgiven, if not forgotten...

[The_WARDen]

Sure the Offense should be scoring points but you have the #1 defense in the league and you can't make adjustments to shut down two TE's and a Rookie WR, "em-BEAR-assing"!!!!

The defense has carried this team for over a year now and they still only gave up 17 points which yet not a great game...it's not a bad game by any means. This offense has to produce especially against that defense which was suspect with Urlacher.

[GodofGridiron]

We really missed Troy yesterday. No Troy, Bears TE's gallavant all day like damsels with flower baskets thru fields of tulips.

The absence of Troy made Ron Turners job a lot easier dialing up plays for Cutler, who seems to have our number. I dont think we've beaten Jay....ever.

[LVSteelersfan]

We've played Jay Cutler exactly twice if memory serves correctly. Obviously Troy missing was a major factor. You could see it in his face while he was on the sidelines. Lebeau needs to dial up something different besides Woodley and Harrison bullrushing from the edges while Troy is out. Teams obviously have that figured out. Carter obviously is not good enough to handle those tight ends by himself. This is a game we should have won but it is not the end of the world. I pity the fools in Bungle land next week.

[Gnutella]

Devils' advocate: even if Jeff Reed made both his FG attempts and we scored 20 points, who's to say that the Bears don't score a TD and win 21-20? This loss boils down to three things:

1. Special teams lapses
2. Poor defensive scheme
3. Inefficient red-zone offense

The good news is, all three problems are correctable.

[SteelC7]

there was only one reason the bears won: jeff reed, the bears players should be thanking him all day today

[SteelCityMom]

The only thing that really upset me about the loss was the last drive of the Steelers. They were nearing the red zone and were on 3rd and 2 and Ben decides to throw a heroic TD pass to Holmes in tight coverage. Thus forcing Reed to kick a 44 (or 48) yd FG after he's just missed a 38 yd FG. All they needed were 2 yards for a first down...run the clock down a little more, try eventually for a TD of course, but at the very least get the ball as close as possible for Reed to kick an easy FG.

I was a little disappointed in the defense as well...they were just very out of character for more than half of the game. They were still good...but not great like we are used to. I would have liked to see a little more of Mundy in there after Carter got hurt...he couldn't have done any worse.

The one good think I can take away from this game is that the OL did a good job protecting Ben (only 2 sacks) and the running game seemed to pick up some steam against a decent defense. Just kind of wonder why Arians thought he was coaching the Saints though with all the 3 WR sets he was putting out there. Very uncharacteristic.

It's only week 2 though, and we'll bounce back from this no doubt. It wouldn't be Steelers football if there wasn't some adversity along the way. And Bears played a hell of a game...kudos to them.