It’s been four years since the Pittsburgh Steelers (2-0) lined up against the Chicago Bears (0-2), a game the team from Chi-Town hasn’t won this decade. The Steelers have a perfect record so far this season, but have played far from perfect on the field. The Bears, on the other hand, have just looked like a big pile of shit.
The game is going to be on your local CBS station at 1 p.m. EST.
The Game: Pittsburgh Steelers at Chicago Bears (+7.5)
O/U: 44.0
The History
For two teams that have been in the NFL forever, they’ve only played 26 games since 1934 when the Steelers were known as the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Bears hold a commanding lead, 18-7-1, in the all time series.
Chicago won the first 10 games of this series and only two of them were close. The Bears beat Pittsburgh (then still the Pirates) 7-0 on October 4, 1937 and 30-21 on December, 4, 1949. Every other victory was by double digits and most by three scores or more.
The longest Steelers win streak is recent, just three games from November, 1995 to December, 2005.
Two of their last eight match ups have gone into overtime, with each team winning one game. Chicago won 13-10 in November, 1986 and the Steelers won 37-34 in OT in November, 1995.
PITTSBURGH STEELERS (2-0)
For an elite offense, the Steelers have had trouble getting off the starting blocks so far this season. That has a lot to do, I think, with Le’Veon Bell’s absence from camp and the preseason. It doesn’t matter how hard Bell was working out, a player still needs training camp and game/practice action to prepare for the NFL games. Bell had a better showing against the Vikings last week, carrying the ball 27 times for 87 yards and catching four passes for four yards. He didn’t get into the end zone. That’s going to change Sunday.
With Bell on, that should open up the passing game more for Ben Roethlisberger. Again, Pittsburgh hasn’t been bad, they’ve just not been dominant and considering the teams they’ve played (the Cleveland Browns and the Sam Bradford-less Vikings), they should have been.
Last week Roethlisberger was 23 of 35 for 243 yards and two touchdowns and if he hadn’t started so slow against the Browns, you could praise that stat line against an elite Minnesota defense.
Speaking of defense, star rookie T.J. Watt will be out with a groin injury, but the good news his opposite side rusher, Bud Dupree, will play with a banged up shoulder. Last week Pittsburgh recorded two sacks and 5.5 tackles for a loss against Case Keenum and the Vikings’ offensive line. Keenum is a statue, but Mike Glennon is basically a rock. Like a carved rock, part of some kind of Celtic stone circle, but made of stone nonetheless. The dude is begging to get tackled roughly and impregnated.
CHICAGO BEARS (0-2)
Speaking of Glennon, to no one’s surprise he continues to be terrible as the Bears’ starting quarterback. Last week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Glennon put up 301 meaningless pass yards as he threw just one touchdown in garbage time in the fourth quarter and two picks. That touchdown, with Tampa leading 29-0, was Chicago’s only score in the game.
The fact is, you can’t look at any of the stats from that game and use them for anything positive. Glennon did spread the ball around to six different receivers, but the problem was he threw passes two eight different guys. It just so happened two of them were on the other team. He was completely ineffective when the game was a real contest and that’s not going to change against Pittsburgh. I mean, come on.
The only interesting subplot here is if head coach John Fox throws Mitchell Trubisky in before this one is over.
The Pick
This is the week for the Pittsburgh offense to wake up and really put up some points. The Bears can at least take some notes on the sideline. Steelers 34, Bears 13
This week
Straight up: 1-0
Against the spread: 0-1
Last week
Straight up: 11-5
Against the spread: 8-8
Season
Straight up: 22-10
Against the spread: 16-16
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