Taken from the gradebook of a teacher who is tired of signing the Chicago Blues, here is the Pittsburgh Steelers Report Card for the loss to the Bears at Soldier Field.
Colston Loveland scores. Photo Credit: AP, via Tribune-Revew
Quarterback
In his first start of the season, Mason Rudolph went 24 of 31. Completing just shy of 80% of your passes looks good superficially. His first interception negated a great defensive start. His fumble turned over the ball while the Steelers were sniffing field goal range, setting up a touchdown that put the Bears up by 10. Beyond the turnovers, his longest completion went for 21 yards and appeared to be incapable of passing downfield. The deep ball was supposed to be his specialty. Grade: F
Running Backs
Kenneth Gainwell led the way with 92 yards on 10 carries retaining a respectable average even if you take out his 55 yard scamper. Gainwell also had 6 catches for 30 yards, making him the team’s number 1 receiver. Jaylen Warren had a strong day, rushing for 68 yards on 18 carries. Connor Heyward ran once for zero yards. Grade: B+
Tight Ends
Steelers Tight Ends combined for 8 catches for over 60 yards with Jonnu Smith taking two tosses as runs for 6 yards and Pat Freiermuth catching a touchdown pass. Grade: B
Wide Receivers
Calvin Austin led the Steelers wide receivers with 4 catches for 36 yards. D.K. Metcalf had 5 catches for 22 yards, losing on yet another combat catch. Ben Skowronek had a nice catch for 21 yards, but that was the longest catch of the day. Roman Wilson had zero catches but executed an excellent pass break up negating a would-be interception. The receivers must share blame with the quarterback for the failure of the downfield passing game. Grade: F
Offensive Line
Run blocking was solid. Mason Rudolph was only sacked once twice and hit 4 other times. And statistically speaking, that looks pretty good. But one of those sacks helped scuttle the Steelers first drive, and the second one resulted in a forced fumble. Grades here are driven by performance and results. Grade: C-
Defensive Line
The Steelers held the Bears running game in check for the most part, but Caleb Williams did escape four times. The defensive line, as a unit, was overpowered on the Bears touchdown run. Yahya Black recovered a fumble in what should have been a game-changing play. Grade: C
Linebackers
T.J. Watt made an All Pro move by first forcing Caleb Williams into the end zone and then strip sacking him. Nick Herbig pounced on it for the touchdown. However, a neutral zone infraction by Herbig negated a Joey Porter Jr. interception on the final drive at halftime that resulted in the Bears getting three extra points that decided the game. Grade: D
Secondary
Overall play of the secondary was OK at times with Kyle Dugger’s addition paying dividends. He had a pass defensed as did James Pierre. But the Bears passed for 3 touchdowns. Grade: D
Special Teams
The Bears had more kick return success than you’d like to see. After Chicago forced the Steelers to punt to start the second half, Corliss Waitman boomed off a deep punt. Unfortunately a Ben Skowronek penalty forced a re-punt and Waitman did not do a good job of that. This set up the Bears only non-turnover assisted touchdown drive. Grade: D
Coaching
Several times during his tenure we’ve credited Arthur Smith for leading an offense where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Against the Bears, the opposite was true.
The Steelers led in all sorts of offensive stat categories, even edging an impressive 6-minute time of possession advantage. Yet, they came up short on the score board. Turnovers, which are not Smith’s fault are a huge factor here. But so is the Steelers chronic inability to pass down field.
- Critics are already calling out the 31 points given up by Teryl Austin’s defense.
Fair enough. Numbers don’t lie. The defense wasn’t good enough, especially in the Red Zone. But the defense was also sandbagged by the offense and special teams on each scoring drive and self-sabotaged on the Bears field goal drive. That’s not on Austin’s game planning.
- Still, Austin’s defense gave up 3 passing touchdowns. That’s three too many.
The Steelers have been playing the Bears in Chicago since 1938, one year before my oldest living blood relative was born in Mt. Oliver. Since then, they’ve beaten the Bears in Chicago precisely one time.
- Any number of individual plays could have turned the collective outcome.
That may not come down on game plan or coaching, but Mike Tomlin and his staff are ultimately responsible. The Steelers needed a win in Chicago. Instead they got a loss. Grade: F
Kenneth Gainwell runs for 55 yards. Photo Credit: Karl Roser, Steelers.com
Unsung Hero Award
Kenneth Gainwell may have authored the offense’s most explosive play but that was all made possible by the block leveled by Darnell Washington, and for that he wins the Unsung Hero Award for the Steelers loss in Chicago to the Bears.
