Stillers at da Bears

Steelers Bear

The Steelers move on to Chicago on Sunday. Going into Soldiers’ Field is never pleasant. The crowd will be stoked for this match up against the defending Super Bowl champs. There is a concerted effort in the Windy City to discourage the sale of tix to Steelers fans. They do not want the familiar chant ‘Here we go Steelers’ combined with the Terrible Towels. The Burgh’s proximity to Chicago means there will be a nice contingent of Steelers fans in the stands.

With Troy Polamalu out you can count on the Bears testing Tyrone Carter’s metal. Look for Greg Olsen and Desmond Clark to be regular targets of Jay Cutler. Cutler got off to a rocky start in the Bears’ opener against Green Bay. He threw 3 interceptions in da Bears first six possessions. He was obviously trying too hard to ‘make plays’. He was forcing it. The Steelers’ D will rattle Cutler this week. He has shown a propensity to throw an interception to avoid a sack. That bodes well for the Steel Curtain.

The news that linebacker Brian Urlacher is out for Sunday’s match up should be a relief to Tomlin and the Steelers. Add to that the news that a second starting linebacker will ride the bench Sunday and things look even better. After last weeks dismal running exposition you can count on seeing Mewelde Moore, Fast Willie and Mendenhall getting plenty of opportunity to redeem themselves. Willie Parker just did not look sharp last week. I wonder if the philosophy of giving him limited pre season action backfired. Fast Willie needs to click into gear for the Steelers offense to take off. You can’t place all the blame on the backs however. The offensive line needs to perform better and do some real blocking. Since Mendenhall has yet to prove himself I think Parker and Moore are best hope to light a fire under the running game. If the Steelers are relegated to relying on Ben throwing for 350+ yards every week there will not be a repeat in our future. We need a running game and we need it now.

While I’m talking about the passing game, Big Ben threw for 363 yards last week. The Bears defense looked good in putting the pressure on Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers. A big factor in Sunday’s match up at Soldiers’ Field will be the oft maligned Steelers offensive line. Roethlisberger cannot be expected to escape the grasp of marauding defenses the entire season. Hines and Santonio each racked up more than 100 receiving yards against the Titans. The Bears cornerbacks have their work cut out for them. Charles Tillman and Zack Bowman will need to be on their best game. I do not see this being much competition for the Hines or Santonio. Look for them to rack up big numbers again.

The Bears defense is all about the big play. Before Sunday, they had a 26 game streak for take aways. Lovie Smith makes a big point of talking about the take away ratio. Who could argue that point? Turnovers are always a big factor. The Steelers need to hang onto the ball. The Bears have always done a great job of stripping the ball to create a big play. Those big plays often turn the momentum of a game.

In the end I think the Steelers win the turnover battle and will win this one 24 – 10.