It took until Wednesday night for me to finally see the entirety of the Bears-Steelers game from Sunday, thanks in large part to my cable going out during the first drive of the second half, and not coming back on until after the game had ended. Here are my miscellaneous thoughts, observations and conclusions from the game:
- Offensive coordinator Ron Turner called an excellent game. He knew early on that the Bears would have little success running the ball against the talented Pittsburgh front, and game planned over that problem by utilizing the short passing game rather than the hand-off. In essence what the Bears did was substitute the 3-7 yard passing game for a majority of the running game. Very few times did Jay Cutler look to throw the deep ball before checking down to short-range targets. Turner obviously knew that it was unlikely that James Harrison and company would afford Cutler enough time to go through all of those progressions, so Turner effectively chopped the deep ball out of most of the game plan, and that is why the Bears won the game.
- Ben Roethlisberger had a rough outing. Pressure from the Bears was not always immediately in his face, but the coverage schemes down field had Roethlisberger baffled long enough for Alex Brown and company to free up and get in his face, or, at worst, only allow shorter passes instead of the long bombs that Ben was clearly looking for. Effective prevention of the vertical passing game by the Bears’ defense. Pittsburgh would’ve been wise to use a similar game plan to Turner’s, but they did not have as much respect for the Bears’ secondary as perhaps they should have.
- Roethlisberger should’ve had a second interception; Kevin Payne dropped a pretty easy one. In the first two weeks, Kevin Payne is making too many mistakes. One way or another, those must be limited/eliminated.
- Greg Olsen is an absolute stud for staying in the game after the two nasty hits he took. He couldn’t hang onto the ball on the sideline play, but the deep seam route later in the game was an outstanding catch and hang-on. The Bears could very well have lost the game were it not for Olsen’s presence, as he quickly and instinctively recovered Matt Forte’s nearly-disastrous fumble late in the fourth quarter. (Re: the deep seam play: I doubt that play would’ve been available to the Bears had Troy Polamalu been healthy.)
- CBS cut to a shot of Polamalu on the sidelines after Jay Cutler’s touchdown pass to Kellen Davis. Troy had a look on his face like he’d never seen somebody make a throw like that in his life. It’s possible that he never had.
- Alex Brown spent a lot of the afternoon in the offensive backfield. Excellent game from Brown.
- The deep down-the-middle pass to Santonio Holmes late in the 3rd quarter was one of the very few down-the-field opportunities Roethlisberger had all game. If Brian Urlacher had been patrolling that area instead of the late-arriving Hunter Hillenmeyer, I don’t think that connection is made.
- Charles Tillman did not deflect that incomplete pass to Holmes in the end zone, but his hand was in Holmes’ face and was absolutely the reason Holmes couldn’t make the catch. The ball was right there for him, but Santonio clearly couldn’t see it because of Peanut.
- The Bears’ game-winning drive began on their own 33 yard line with 3:18 left to go in the game. Robbie Gould’s kick sailed between the pipes with fifteen seconds left on the clock. For as poor as Lovie Smith’s clock management was in the first game, credit must be given to him for excellent use of nearly every available second at his disposal on Sunday.
- I know Robbie Gould doesn’t have the jewelry, but if there’s a 45 yard field goal to be made and my life is on the line, I’m having a real hard time choosing between he and Adam Vinatieri.