Bears and Steelers In-Game Blog – Bear Maven

Fourth Quarter

• A 65-yard field goal try by Santos. He comes up short of the crossbar and it falls to the ground. Steelers 29, Bears 27

• A completion and it would be a 66-yard field goal try. That’s not happening in Pittsburgh. From Steelers 48, Fields throws and Watt bats it down. 

• A flag again with 16 seconds left on a completion to Montgomery. Illegal contact. A 5-yard penalty for shoving Goodwin. Bears at 30.  A pass to Kmet at the 41. Still 11 seconds left.

• No one open and rush comes, Fields throws it away on short one to Kmet.

• Bears at the 25 with 26 seconds left and Fields needs a miracle.

• Steelers face third-and-2 with 40 seconds left. Bears have one timeout and Steelers do as well. Roethlisberger gets a generous mark trying to pull it and run for the first down but still doesn’t get the first down. It’s a 40-yard Boswell field goal try with 30 seconds left. Boswell connects on a 40-yarder with 26 seconds left and the Bears are out of timeouts. Steelers 29, Bears 27.

• A 13-yard gain to Freiermuth and Roethlisberger spikes the ball.  

• At long last, the Pittsburgh Steeler penalty. A false start. First-and-15 at the Bears 37. 

• Robert Quinn was tackled to the ground and they call him for offsides. No holding call.  Completion on slant to Johnson and Steelers are in field goal range. Bears called offsides again. Vildor blew the coverage on Johnson. Now at Bears 32.

• Harris breaks 2 tackles and gains 4 on a dump off. Then McCloud beats Shelley for a 12-yard completion. Steelers at their 41. 

• Bears fool the Steelers on third-and-2. No run. Deep ball to A-Rob down the sideline and he goes out of bounds at the Steelers 16. Fields scrambles and throws for a 16-yard TD to Mooney. Still 1:46 left. PAT good. Bears 27, Steelers 26

• Pittsburgh not necessarily the greatest zone coverage team but doing a  nice job over the middle when the game is on the line. Robinson was there for the catch on first down but quickly covered up.

• Fields scrambles and appeared to have a first down if he veered off left but he ran right into a tackler instead. Third-and-3. TWO-MINUTE WARNING IIIII

• Zone read and Fields goes OB for the first down at the 38. Fields then tries to hit Robinson over the middle for 20 but Robinson can’t hang onto it as coverage arrives.

• Ball at 34 and Fields wings one as far as he can and Mooney gets open but a dive by Mooney and he can’t quite reach it.

• Fields to Allen Robinson for 9. Robinson actually had the first down but decided to go backwards for some reason. Play stops as Heyward is injured and comes off slowly. 

• Fields has 2:52 to try to win the game. Tough to blame Bears defense when they have to overcome 11 Steelers and the officiating crew. Really tough.

• The replay of the Marsh penalty is atrocious. He wasn’t near the Steelers bench. A 52-yard field goal and Steelers 26, Bears 20.

• Steelers get a pass to Diontae Johnson to get into field goal range. 

• Nichols with the sack after Quinn knocked him to the ground. 

• Steelers escape with another bad official’s call.

• Marsh comes back to haunt the Steelers. Roethlisberger has forever. Sacks Roethlisberger. They flagged him for taunting. An awful call.

• Short pass to Claypool and they get 3. Bears haven’t had Akiem Hicks on the field in a while. No Hicks. No. Mack. No Jackson. Hicks has foot in a boot on sideline. Steelers facing third-and-8 after Roethlisberger lost control of ball on short pass for incompletion. 

• Steelers come up with a pair of first downs, a third-and-6 pass but Robert Quinn lined up offsides on the second one anyway. Now at Bears 49.

• The game takes a startling turn with a play by the punt coverage team that is ranked last in the NFL. A good punt, as well by Pat O’Donnell forcing McCloud back inside his 30.

• Bears looking at third-and-5 after Fields threw incomplete and hit Mooney for a 5-yard gain. They might have been able to go on fourth down but not after Fields took a sack on third down by Watt. He was indecisive and then stumbled. Bears punting. DHC recovers a fumble on the punt and takes it for a TD. They will review but McCloud did lose control of the ball. Touchdown confirmed. DeAndre Houston-Carson TD. Joel Iyiegbuniwe forced the fumble.  Steelers 23, Bears 20.

• Touchback. Bears have it just under eight minutes left and this is a test of whether Fields can author a late rally and their offensive line can hold off Watt and the rush when they know the Bears have to pass. Not a good situation for the Bears.

• On third-and-short, Roethlisberger throws it right to Jaylon Johnson but  it was tipped and goes incomplete. Steelers punting.

• That’s where you blitz Roquan Smith from. Right up the A gap. Sack. Down goes Roethlisberger for a loss out of field goal range at the 40.

• Ran Claypool on another end around for the first down to Bears 30.

• Steelers face third-and-1 at Bears 31.

• Roquan Smith called for offsides but didn’t appear to breach the neutral zone. Still, it’s another dumb thing to do … blitzing Roquan off the edge. Caused the Deebo Samuel screen pass last week.

• Boswell recovers a kick return fumble by Grant. He had broken one to the 35 and fumbled it 10 yards forward. Steelers have a chance to put this game away. At the Bears 42.

• Chris Boswell 54-yard field goal a week after a concussion with 11:52 left. A scoring drive possible only due to a questionable pass interference call and missed illegal block in the back. When I played football in olden days, they called what happened to Shelley on that play clipping, not an illegal block in the back. It’s a penalty any way you slice it. Steelers 23, Bears 13.

• Steelers run another end around and it fails to gain but officials missed a blatant block in the back of Shelley as he tried to track down the runner from behind. Bears bench was all over the officials.

• This is starting to look like Packers, 49ers games when the Bears were in it in the fourth quarter and the defense caved in.

• Steelers go deep again and get a DPI call against Jaylon Johnson on Diontae Johnson. Lots of handplay by both guys.  A 30-yard penalty to the Bears 45.

• Great blocking from Marquise Goodwin downfield on the end-around out of the cat. The hole was so big a tight end could have run around end on that one.

• The Bears spring their own end-around and Mooney breaks in untouched for a 15-yard TD off the left side. The play came out of the wildcat and totally had the Steelers fooled. Steelers 20, Bears 13

• Jimmy Graham with a catch at the 14 on a bullet throw as Fields is hit late again. No call. Bears at the 15.

• Bears have a little rhythm going on offense. But a two-touchdown deficit seems too much for this attack to overcome. They take too long to move the ball even 20 yards.  They have to finish thid drive with a TD. 

Third Quarter

• A wildcat run for a first down by Montgomery and the Bears then get 5 more on RPO run by Fields. Then Fields finds Darnell Mooney for 20, his first reception. Bears at the Steelers 45 and no-huddle.  A 2-yard Herbert run off right guard and quarter ends. Steelers 20, Bears 6

• Kindle Vildor has been so bad in coverage and is so easily beaten by taller receivers because of his lack of size, that you have to wonder if they wouldn’t have just been better off keeping Desmond Trufant on the roster despite missing so many days during the period when his father was sick and died. Instead, they cut him and the Saints picked him up, cut him and he’s on the Raiders now. 

• Roethlisberger over the shoulder to Freiermuth for the TD and they call pass interference on Vildor anyway. He can’t match up against a guy that big. Officials threw flag for no reason. Vildor was making contact but didn’t grab anything and it was actually Freiermuth using his hands to free himself. PAT was wide left. Steelers 20, Bears 6.

• Cassius Marsh was held on an incompletion. No call. Blatant holding.

• Another end-around to Claypool for a first down. First-and-goal. Bears haven’t figured out how to stop the outside stuff against a team that plays power. They had the same problems against the Rams and the Packers.

• Harris leaps and they gave him the first down. It was close. Dumb risk and it paid off. They could have negated that entire Bears drive for the field goal. 

• End around works for 9. Third-and-1 at Bears 23. The Steelers don’t get it. Will Mike Tomlin do the smart thing or the gutsy thing?

• Cameras picked up Nagy complaining to officials on the sidelines about the hit on Fields. Nagy was right but officials kept shaking their heads. But Nagy needs to get more vehement and in the official’s face on that. He was way too nice about it. Needed to be forceful. He was right about the complaint.

• No pass rush and Steelers strike back with 42-yard pas to Washington.

• A screen to Montgomery doesn’t go for the TD, but to the 4. Santos kicks his 40th  straight field goal. The replay showed Fields being blindside up high well after the pass was thrown and no call. The officials have decided it’s fair game on the rookie tonight, although Roethlisberger got them to throw the flag for a nothing hit. Steelers 14, Bears 6

• TD pass to Graham is wiped out again by penalty for a low block. This one on James Daniels is a horrible call. He whiffed on the block. Fields scrambles for a couple then. Third-and-goal at the 15.

• Burns it in again to Kmet over the middle to the 4. Then on first-and-goal Montgomery bulls to the 1. Good offensive line surge on that one and they went quick.

• Ruling stands. Bears ball at Steelers 14. Not seeing it. That should be overturned and an incompletion. A 44-yard gain that shouldn’t have happened.

• Marquise Goodwin on the play-action bomb and although he caught a wide-open pass and went out of bounds and then dropped it, he failed to control it through the process and they will reverse this. Just a total wasted opportunity thanks to Goodwin. 

• David Montgomery carries half the Steelers defense for 10 yards on first down up the middle. Montgomery had looked a bit tentative early in his return from injury but not on that play. 

• Scramble drill to Robinson and he hauls it in for 17 on third down and 8. A first-down conversion.  The Steelers’ coverage failed to pick up on Robinson floating around in the open field.

• Fields throws toward Darnell Mooney when he isn’t open near the sideline on a dangerous pass. Incomplete but he’d be better off not throwing it over there.

• Montgomery  burrows to the 9.

• Punt dead at the 6. Bears backed up in poor field position like at the start of the game.

• Smith with a poor open-field tackle attempt on Harris, arm tackling. Steelers face third-and-3 at Bears 47. Duke Shelley knocks down the third-down pass. in zone. What made the play? Roethlisberger had Edwards coming right at him in the open field and had to dump it off too fast. You think he wasn’t thinking about the hit a few plays earlier?

• Mario Edwards with his third roughing-the-passer penalty this year. Nice faking job by Roethlisberger. Wasn’t much roughness involved. Just feeling sorry for an old man.

• Coverage team fails again. Steelers start at the 30. 

Half

• Bears outgained Steelers 127 yards to 112 but committed six penalties for 30 yards to two for 14 by Pittsburgh. One difference is field position early in the game, caused by the interception of Fields by Heyward. The other is Pittsburgh 3 of 7 on third down and the Bears 1 of 7.  No rhythm to Bears passing game. 

Second Quarter

• Larry Borom jumps before the snap. Another self-inflicted wound but this one on third down. Six penalties in first half. On third down they try Graham again but he isn’t open at all and the Bears have to accept a 38-yard Cairo Santos field goal. Steelers 14, Bears 3

• Jimmy Graham lives! A throw to the outside in the end zone and he’s covered but gets his hands on it but can’t hold it.

• Montgomery digs inside for 3 and clock runs. Finally Bears call timeout after wasting about 10 seconds.

• Risky bullet pass to Kmet for 8 between defenders at the 31. Then back to Kmet in the middle to the 10. Steelers have to burn a timeout. Kmet took a dirty hit to the head-neck area that should have been flagged. No call. 

• Montgomery with a stop-and-cut, and picked up 2 for the first third-down conversion by the Bears.

• The Bears obviously decided they had to go back to the ground game to stop the Steelers from teeing off and this drive featured two wildcat runs and Fields scramble along with hard inside runs from Montgomery. But it’s still tough sledding against a good run defense. 

• Fields scrambles for 6 and Montgomery with a couple yards. It’s third-and-2. TWO-MINUTE WARNING!!!!!

• Wildcat with Nall, Montgomery and Herbert in together and Herbert gets 8. Then Montgomery for a yard. Third-and-1 for Bears. Steelers have D-lineman Isaiah Buggs injured. On third down Montgomery gains only an inch. Fourth-and-inches. Bears going for it at their 46. Steelers jump the gun and it’s a first down. Cameron Heyward fell for it.

• Tashaun Gipson with a huge open-field stop on a quick pass in the flat. Another low tackle like the one Shelley had earlier. Steelers punt and Bears take over at their 36.

• A shovel pass and Harris run leave Steelers at third-and-2 at their own 17. 

• Rather than a 59-yard field goal try, Bears punt and Steelers start at their 9. Second quarter and Bears have 22 net yards passing. Fields has thrown for 34 and been sacked for 12 yards in losses.

• Dumpoff on scramble by Fields to Jakeem Grant but illgal man downfield against Sam Mustipher. Now they’re out of field goal range. Wipes out Grant’s first Bears catch. Overthrew Kmet down the middle of the field on third down. 

• Watt came out on a naked bootleg and didn’t buy anything. Had an easy sack at the 36.

• Bootleg pass long to Cole Kmet for 25 yards. Couldn’t have been thrown any better rolling left by a right-handed passer. 

• Bears have only 29 yards rushing from their backs and 21 came on one play, so they obviously need to get the running game going to activate their offense. It’s hard to do when they’re busy committing dumb penalties or getting sacked. It’s only 14-0, not 30-0, but they’re playing like they’re lifeless on offense.

• From Steelers 9, Harris knocked down after 4-yard gain. Third-and-14. Duke Shelley snuffs out a dump-off with a nice open-field ankle tackle. Textbook. Steelers punt and it’s shanked. Bears take over at the 48.

• Roethlisberger threw behind Claypool on the WR screen and they get only  a yard to their 17. On a second-down run, the Steelers get flagged for holding on Kevin Dotson. Grabbed Khyiris Tonga’s shirt.

• Khalil Herbert gets a carry and only a yard, then Fields can’t get it to Marquise Goodwin in time on the post, just about got him killed. On third down Fields gets nailed in the helmet going OB scrambling and no call. Definite helmet to helmet.  Bears punt.

• 4-yard TD pass to Pat Frierermuth. He had forever to throw that one. Shook off DHC to get open. Steelers 14, Bears 0

• Two incompletions against tight coverage by Vildor and the Steelers have third-and-goal at the 4.

• Jaylon Johnson good coverage on Diontae Johnson and it still is completed to the 9.  On second down the Steelers complete it to Claypool but Bears can’t count again. Had 12 men on the field. Last week they had 10. It’s 11 guys. 11.

• Benny Snell in and gets 5 but Angelo Blackson is involved in a shoving match afterward. Offsetting penalties. Second-and-5.

First Quarter

• Harris snuck inside after being stopped near the line and Pittsburgh moves the chains as the quarter ends. Steelers had the ball 8 1/2 to 6 1/2 minutes. Has 7-0 lead and moving.

• Danny Trevathan looks like Trevathan of old on third-and-1 and stops it. Steelers are going for it at their own 26.

• Harris knifes inside for 7 on first down. Another run where the Bears defense almost gets him in the backfield but then is trailing him down the field. Harris gets 2 on second down and it’s third-and-1.

• Cam Heyward picks off Fields. Batted it and then caught it. Steelers ball at the Bears 36.

• T.J. Watt with the sack. Fields hesitated to run right. He should have gone that direction. He had about 5 yards. 

• Fields scrambles on second down and gets the first down.

• David Montgomery explodes behind Peters and both tight ends for 21 yards.

• Akiem Hicks makes his presence felt on second down by stuffing Harris. Then Duke Shelley with some excellent pass coverage on third down for an incompletion. The Bears can stay in this if they keep Roethlisberger in poor third-down distances. He’s not dropping back and firing it off deep these days. He got one on the first drive but that’s rare. Bears get it back with a punt at the 12. Pittsburgh would do well to remember they did better running off their left side and not at Hicks.

• Goldman broke in on the third-and-inches run and nearly had Harris in the backfield but he gets the first down at the Bears 47. Quinn in off the right side for the sack on first down. This is a key mismatch, Quinn and rookie Dan Moore. But they usually aren’t throwing on a deep enough drop to get sacks.

• After an incompletion on first down, Steelers hit the Bears with Matt Nagy’s pet play, the shovel pass. They get 9 yards out of it.

• Steelers starting at their own 41 again.

• Fields dumps it off on third down and they’ll punt. Montgomery had no chance to do anything with the ball after catching it. Another drive killed by their own mistakes.

• Allen Robinson a target early here catches it and gets OB but the Bears are called for illegal formation. If they can quit beating themselves, maybe they have a chance.

• Marquise Goodwin on the wrong side of the line and the play clock running down forces the Bears to take a timeout.

• Fields on the zone read for 8. Nice fake on that one. I’ve noticed he needs work in this area. But that one was done well.

• Jason Peters returns to the game in time to commit a false start.

• A second bad kick return. That’s one area they have done well at but they start at the 11. 

• The free fall of the once vaulted Bears defense continues. Anyone who thought Khalil Mack was overrated only needs to check out how they’ve looked since he started having problems with his foot. They’ve gone straight down the drain. Not much else there anymore besides Roquan Smith and Akiem HIcks. Steelers 7, Bears 0

• Harris a run off Bears right side on defense, an easy 10-yard TD. This is the side to run to against the Bears. Bilal Nichols taken right out on the play. 

• James Washington on end around takes it OB to the 10. Bears way out of position to stop that one.
• Chase Claypool with a beautiful catchy over outmatched Kindle Vildoor. He’s about half Claypool’s size. Ball at Bears 25.

• Roquan devours Najee Harris on an open-field tackle. Gets a yard. Then they come back to the WR screen and you knew it was coming after Deebo Samuel burned them. But this one goes for a yard.

• Kindle Vildor a near-pick on incompletion but Eddie Goldman with illegal hands to the face. Goldman’s year of struggles continues.

• Low punt of 43 yards and a 14-yard return and Steelers come out of it in good shape at 41.

• On third-and-5 after a 3-yard Montgomery run, Justin Fields completes it to Robinson but it’s short of the sticks against zone. 

• Only to the 22 on the return and the Bears use plenty of motion but give it to David Montgomery off right guard for a couple yards. It’s going to be tough sledding with Cameron Heyward in there.  Jordan Peters hurt his ankle or foot on the play. Montgomery rolled up on him.

• Bears ready to receive

Pregame

INACTIVES

Bears

DB Artie Burns

LB Alec Ogletree

OLB Khalil Mack

S Eddie Jackson

RB Damien Williams

QB Nick Foles

TE J.P. Holtz

Steelers

TE Eric Ebron

QB Anthony McFarland

RB Ahkello Witherspoon

CB Buddy Johnson

LB Zach Banner

QB  Dwayne Haskins

Albert Breer of SI in his MMQB column looks at Cordarrelle Patterson helping turn Atlanta’s fortunes. 

The Raiders had to cut one of their players from the Khalil Mack trade, CB Damon Arnette, a first-rounder. What a deal they made.

And some so-called experts said the Bears got ripped off. Pro Football Focus has. Remember this story as you read this tweet Raiders fans.

Nice writing and logic here from PFF, the experts.

 So what did they get exactly for Khalil Mack? Josh Jacobs. He has 29 fewer yards than David Montgomery this year, and Montgomery sat out four games due to injury. He’s averaging 3.8 yards a carry. Really tough to find a back who can average 3.8 yards a carry. Not only that, but the guy who engineered the deal isn’t even the coach anymore.

Twitter: BearDigest@onFanNation

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