The Steelers have dropped their third game in a row. My Monday mornings are beginning to feel more and more dreary by the week.

This is the fifth game this year the Steelers weren't able to protect a lead in the fourth quarter. All the games the Steelers have lost were close. They lost four games by only three points and one by six points. This means two things. One, the Steelers are really not a bad team at 6-5, but more frustrating is that the Steelers simply cannot win close games. They cannot seal the deal. That's ugly, period. Especially if there is any chance of going into the playoffs, I don't feel confident at all in this team winning even the first round. They are extremely talented and smart, but their minds are not in the game, especially when it counts the most.

Another scary stat is that the Steelers are 2-4 when Polamalu doesn't play and 4-1 this year in the games he starts. For one, it shows how valuable Polamalu is to this team, but it also shows how the rest of the defensive unit cannot seem to get the job done without him. This is supposed to be an 11-man unit. Polamalu should not count so much towards the wins and losses of a team.

Even more scary is the fact that this Defense has allowed 29 pass plays of 20 yards or longer, six of which were of 40 yards or more. Thats in only 11 games played. Last year, they allowed only 22 plays of 20 yards or more, two of which went for 40 yards or more throughout the course of the entire season.

The big plays have come against this defense way too often, and most of them seem to take place in the fourth quarter when the defense we know gets to the QB and forces turnovers or at least stops opposing offenses in their tracks.

For more, please visit my blog: Lord's Day, Game Day.

I felt so sick to my stomach yesterday after the game. Now we were looking at two back-to-back losses, and we'd just lost to the now 3-7 Kansas City Freaking Chiefs!?!

There was some consolidation at the end of the day, however. The Bengals also lost yesterday to the hapless Oakland Raiders, and we're still in the thick of things for a playoff spot even if we don't win the division.

The Broncos lost their fourth in a row and are now 6-4. We hold the tie-breaker over them since we beat them on Monday Night Football.

The Dolphins are a game behind us at 5-5. That will be an important match-up against them at the end of the season for the Steelers. That may decide whether we make the playoffs or not.

Baltimore, fortunately, fell to 5-5 with a loss to the Colts. We face them next week in prime-time.  That will be a HUGE game for both teams, and you know that the Ravens will come out with a fury on both sides of the ball.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are 6-4 like us and fighting for a fifth or sixth seed since there's little chance that the Colts will lose the division now at 10-0. 

Right now, San Diego leads the AFC West at 7-3 with a win over the Broncos. The good thing there, is that if the Broncos reclaim the lead, and the Chargers fall later in the season, we also hold a tie-breaker against them. I would rather see the Chargers keep winning though, especially in their Week-15 game against the Bengals. The Broncos still have a very tough schedule ahead (They play the Giants, Colts and Eagles through the next six weeks), and could very well miss the playoffs after staring the season 6-0. I'm sure there is turmoil in that locker room.

I still like the Steelers chances at winning a playoff spot, but they certainly didn't help themselves with a loss to the Chiefs. With a win, they might have still been able to win the division. Mathematically, it's not out of the question, yet, but still unlikely.

For more discussion, please visit my blog: Lord's Day, Game Day.

That question, actually stems from another question. Are the Bengals the '08 Steelers?

Now, naturally the Bengals' defense is nowhere near as good as the Steelers' defense was last year (and I'm NOT saying the Bengals will win the Super Bowl) but my goodness, their defense has improved. The Steelers were 0 for 4 in scoring touchdowns from the Red Zone, and already the Bengals have swept the Ravens and now (sigh) us.  They are 5-0 in their division and there's no reason to believe that the Browns can upset them in their next match up.

Like the Ravens last year, the Steelers are still a very, very solid team despite being swept by the Bengals. If we don't make the playoffs as a wild card I will be completely shocked. I don't believe we can win the division now, even though it's still mathematically possible with 7 games left. We would have to win out and the Bengals would have to lose at least two games, but they're already sitting very pretty and the Browns are the only ones who can keep them from sweeping the AFC North completely.

That won't happen.

I've underestimated the Bengals all year. Now I'm a believer, and unfortunately now they can actually chant their obnoxious "Who Dey" chant.

Now the question becomes, can the Bengals beat the Steelers three times just as we beat the Ravens tree times last year on the way to the Super Bowl?

Man, do I hope not.

That will cause something very terrible to snap in my psyche.

The problem now for the Steelers is that we still have to face the Ravens twice, and they're not suckers of the division yet, even though their record is 4-4 pending tonight's game against the Browns (is that even worth watching?).

The Bengals' remaining games are against Oakland, Cleveland, Detroit, Minnesota, San Diego, Kansas City and the Jets.

San Diego is playing like people expected them at the start of the season, so they'll pose a threat and my hopes is that Minnesota and the Jets will put a beating on Cincy. But I won't underestimate them anymore this year. They're very capable of finishing the season 13-3 if they keep playing like they're playing.

The Steelers, on the other hand, still have to face Kansas City, Baltimore (twice), Oakland, Cleveland, Green Bay and Miami.

I believe the Steelers are good enough to beat every one of those teams, but I know they won't.

What do you people think will be the Steelers' final record?

And will a record of 11-5 be good enough to earn a playoff spot?

We shall see. All I know is that I'm going to be watching carefully the rest of the AFC teams from this point forward.

For more discussion on this, please check out my blog: Lord's Day, Game Day.

For those of you who have checked out my blog in the past will know I'm a big fan of the low-budget, no-budget Yinz Luv Da Stillers web show. I'm also gaining a lot of respect for Jim Shearer, the creator of the show. So much so that I wanted to write a feature story on him for the Post-Gazette (I'm an intern at the PG right now). Unfortunately, the editors there didn't show interest (because, I think, they don't get the importance of the revolution going on online). So instead, I asked him to do a Q&A session with me regarding the world of sports shows and blogging on the web.

Jim is 34 yars old, grew up in Pittsburgh, attended Shaler Area High School, and now lives with his wife in New York City. His day job is with VH1 hosting Top 20 Video Countdown. He started Yinz Luv 'Da Guins during the 2008 playoffs and had so much fun doing it, he started Yinz Luv 'Da Stillers when their season kicked off later in the year. He has been working in television since 2001 when he started with MTV, and his dream is to come back to Pittsburgh if he had the opportunity to do a show here.

I got hooked on YLDS when I was in Iraq and couldn't catch all the games because of the time difference. So, onto the Q&A:

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The Cleveland Browns recently fired their GM, who apparently was hand-picked by coach Eric Mangini. That's an absurd scenario, but let's move on.

I was listening to Tunch Ilkin with Craig Wolfley on 970 AM this morning, A caller came on the air saying he's a long time friend of Bill Cowher and still talks to him and Cowher said he's interested in returning to coaching within the next couple of years, but only under a couple of condition. One, he wants to go into a team that requires rebuilding, and two, he wants to have total control, both as coach and as GM, I imagine.

It didn't sound like the caller was BS'ing (though he could have), and both Tunch and Wolfley seemed very intrigued by the call.

Do you guys think the Browns will be calling up Cowher soon? It's a couple of years now that we've been talking about this, but hey, seems more possible now than ever. If not the Browns, what other team?

Redskins and Panthers are definitely two other options.

My wife suggested I do a blog segment where I highlight the good and the bad of Steelers performances following the game. I'm going to call this segment "Props and Drops" to give credit where it's due and point out which player(s) dropped the ball (sometimes, quite literally).

PROPS:

Definitely a lot of props to the line backing corps. Through the first three games of the season it seemed that the linebackers were nowhere to be found. Against the Vikings, the line backers accounted for 3 of the 4 sacks and scored more points in one quarter than our entire offense did the rest of the game. They terrorized Favre early and often in the game.

The ageless QB still had a tremendous game passing wise (334 yards through the air) because he was able to victimize William Gay and Ike Taylor, who both had very poor outings. But when it counted the most, the linebackers stepped it up to make the biggest plays. LaMarr Woodley scooped up a fumble and looked like a fatter, slower James Harrison returning it back for a touchdown. I didn't think he was ever going to reach the end zone. Keyaron Fox found himself with a gift in his lap when a Favre ass tipped off the hands of Chester Taylor and landed right in Fox's palms. He returned it for the game-winning score.

Another thing to note, even though the Vikings offense (which had been averaging 31 points a game) torched us in the yardage department, the Steelers D was still able to contain them to just 10 points. Seven points came off of a kickoff return. Up until now, the defense had been showing signs of crumbling in the fourth quarter, but I think they're finally getting back into the groove of things. It's not style points that matter. It's the scoreboard points that count.


DROPS:

Going into this game, I was convinced that Big Ben was going to have a field day against this 24th ranked passing defense. Instead, he completed just 14 of 26 passes (53.8 percent) for 175 yards when he had been completing roughly 73 percent of his passes all season and averaging 314 yards per game. My criticism doesn't go against Ben so much, but against his receivers. Hines Ward dropped a beautiful, deep pass down the middle that he typically holds on to, and Santonio Holmes let a couple balls scrape the turf that would have gone for first downs.

Ben also had 3 passes that I can remember were batted at the line of scrimmage (one of them, he threw right into an outstretched arm that had been hanging in the air for an hour before he decided to throw, so that's on him).

Hines Ward finished with one catch for 3 lonely yards. Gerry Dulac of the Post-Gazette gives the wide receivers a C+ for their efforts. I wouldn't be so generous, considering that the Wallace touchdown was due to a completely blown coverage. Satonio Holme's 45-yard catch and run was pretty sweet, though.

For more, check out: Lord's Day, Game Day

Just wanted to revisit my predictions (or here) and see how accurate I was for this game...

1) Adrian Peterson didn't make it to the 100-yard rushing mark. He was contained for 69 yards rushing [+1]

2) The Steelers intercepted Bret Favre only once and it was by Keyaron Fox, not Polamalu [-1]

3) The Vikings managed more than 100 yards (112) in the first half, but they did fare a lot better in the fourth quarter (165 yards) but no offensive touchdowns [-1]

4) The Vikings owned the ball in the last two minutes of the game, but did not win the game thanks to two defensive touchdowns [-1]

5) Fright Night had the same number of rushing yards as Adrian Peterson, but his yardage average was much better (6.9 yards per carry compared to Peterson's 3.8 average) [+1]

6) Big Ben had only 175 yards passing-- a huge disappointment against this 24th ranked passing defense [-1]

7) The Vikings definitely covered Ward and Holmes very well, but Wallace did not have a 100-yard performance (even if count his two end-arounds) [-1]

8) We sacked Favre 4 times [+1]

9) Big Ben was sacked 3 times, as predicted, and I would say all of them were for holding on the ball too long [+1]

10) I predicted, "Jeff Reed doesn't miss any field goals, then he goes out to celebrate after the game, gets drunk and punches a police officer in the face demanding him to dispense paper towels." Well... he didn't miss any field goals, but the night is still young [+1] He did miss a terrible tackle during a return that was taken in for a touchdown [-7 for Reed, because that's how many points that cost us]

So overall I got about half of my predictions right. The one I cared the most about was the Peterson rushing performance. Steelers stepped up nicely to contain him for the most part, but he totally blew up William Gay on that dump pass. Peterson is a sick, sick man.

More discussion on Lord's Day, Game Day

Let me begin by saying that I believe that between these two, the Vikings are the better team overall at this point. The Vikings are 6-0, the Steelers are 4-2. Both teams have pretty much played the same caliber of opponents. The Vikings are definitely the biggest challenge for the Steelers thus far.

The best teams the Vikings have played are the 3-2 Greenbay Packers and the 3-3 Baltimore Ravens. None of the teams we've beaten have a winning record. Beating the Vikings would serve as a great statement, especially going into a Bye Week.

I'd say that on paper the Steelers and Vikings match up very well, and I think both teams will score at least 20 points. The Vikings are averaging 31.5 points per game and the Steelers are finally finding their offensive identity on the arm of Ben Roethlisberger and in the hands of his wide receivers.

The key for the Steelers to win the game is to establish a lead early (at least 14-3 by halftime), and continue working the clock and ripping down yardage. Bruce Arians cannot get too greedy too early if we establish that kind of lead. I want him to be aggressive in the play calling, but not force a 50+ yard heave three or four times that result in consecutive sacks. Dump the ball off to Heath Miller and throw quick slants to Santonio Holmes. Throw in a couple of draw plays and don't be afraid to run the ball.

The key is make the Vikings' defensive front question their own aggressiveness. Fright Night, Holmes and Ward will be excellent candidates for various screens to help keep the pressure off.

If we get a lead and then try to throw bombs (and fail), it will revive the Vikings' chances to continue the running game with Adrian Peterson. If, instead, we build an early lead and work our way down the field methodically (and aggressively), it will be harder for the Vikings to resort to the run in the second half.

The challenging part for the Steelers is that Bret Favre is perfectly capable of beating us all on his own, given the success other QBs have had against our secondary. The key in that department is Troy Polamalu. If he plays and he's healthy, it gives us hope. If he's out, look for at least a half-dozen completed passes down the middle of the field in the 10-40 yard range. I saw some breakdown on the NFL network showing that Favre loves throwing it down the middle, which is where we've been the most vulnerable in our zone schemes.

Speaking of passing, the Steelers are ranked 12th in passing defense but the Vikings are ranked a lowly 24th. Also, they've allowed 24 pass plays that have gone for 20 yards or more, two of which were for 40 yards or more. The Steelers have allowed 13 and 2 in that department. Given the fact that the Steelers' offense is ranked second in the NFL in passing, the edge there goes to Ben Roethlisberger and company.

My prediction: 31-28 Steelers

More at: Lord's Day, Game Day

You know, with all this hype (and rightfully so) about the Vikings being undefeated, Brett Favre playing for them and Adrian Peterson leading the NFL in rushing...

I completely forgot that Mike Tomlin used to be the Vikings defensive coordinator. The media hasn't really talked about it much either. Now, this is his third year coaching the Steelers so I'm not sure that he can use anything as personal motivation, but perhaps he has some insight on how to attack the Vikings' D. And who knows, maybe he'll be a little extra excited for this one. Tomlin is a young coach with a lot of energy and knows how to motivate his players.

The Vikings this year are a team that could win any game against any opponent. I'm just glad that we're playing at home. I won't be at the game, but hopefully we can make it loud and confuse the offense. Their O-line has the reputation of being very, very physical, and they are.

But I do think we can get to Favre. He has been sacked 14 times in 6 games, which is almost as much as Big Ben's 16 sacks. He is definitely not untouchable in this game, and both defenses are at the top of the league in sacking so there will be some quarterback heads thumping in this one.

More discussion on my blog: Lord's Day, Game Day.

I like fans making bold predictions. So I'm going to try a few of my own...

1) Adrian Peterson will not rush for more than a 100 yards, but will come very, very close. Steelers always play up or down to the competition. For the most part we contain the elite backs, but Peterson is still phenomenal so he will make us sweat a little.

2) We will pick off Favre at least twice (Polamalu will have one of those interceptions).

3) We will hold the Vikings to an insanely low amount of yards in the first half (under 100), and then they will adjust and explode in the fourth quarter.

4) Whichever team has the ball in the last two minutes wins this game.

5) Fright Night will get more rushing yards than Adrian Peterson.

6) Big Ben has another 300-yard passing game.

7) Vikings Defense will double-cover Hines Ward and bump Santonio Holmes in his routes, leaving Mike Wallace open to have another 100+ yard performance.

8) We will sack Favre at least 4 times.

9) Steelers O-line protects Ben but he still gets sacked 3 times for holding on the ball for too long.

10) Jeff Reed doesn't miss any field goals, then he goes out to celebrate after the game, gets drunk and punches a police officer in the face demanding him to dispense paper towels.

(More discussion on this on my blog: Lord's Day Game Day)

Just as we were about to get Troy Polamalu back, by far our most valuable defensive back player, we lose Aaron Smith to a shoulder injury that could keep him sidelined the rest of the season. The coaches have a tough decision to make. Put Smith on the IR or hope to have him back by January in time for the playoffs?

The question is, can we even make the playoffs without Smith?

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In today's chat, Ed Bouchette made a comment on Ryan McBean that somewhat jostled me. He pointed out that McBean is now a started for the Denver Broncos. Isn't this the same McBean who was completely lost playing for us? Now he's playing for one of the better defenses in the NFL...

Ed Bouchette: Hello, Madrid. I'm not sure Harris -- he says now, by the way, that it's spelled Sunny -- was the next Reggie White and deserved to be kept ahead of Nick Eason. Maybe with Aaron Smith out for awhile, keeping Eason, a veteran, might turn out to be the smart move. However, Ryan McBean, cut by the Steelers, is starting at DE for the unbeaten Broncos.

Bumped from the fanposts. Good stuff. And as a follow up, read Malcolm Gladwell's latest piece in the New Yorker titled 'How different are football and dogfighting?' Excellent, interesting stuff as well. Thanks to pola-gona-maul-u for the contribution. -Blitz- (Michael B.)

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Here you will find an excellent GQ article titled "Game Brain" about the dangers of concussions suffered by NFL players. According to the article, which is written by Jean Marie Laskas (she was my professor for two of my writing courses at Pitt), offensive linemen seem to be at the highest risk for a disease now diagnosed as CTE. The unfortunate part is that the NFL is refuting the science being brought before them. They are dismissing it as if it were inconclusive opinionated fluff rather than the autopsy of former NFL players' brains.

It is believed that these repeated concussions can lead former players to dementia, memory loss and Alzheimer-like symptoms.

The solution, according to one of the scientists quoted in the article, is not helmets. He says,

Helmets are not the answer. The brain has a certain amount of play inside the skull. It’s buoyed up in the cerebral spinal fluid. It sits in this fluid, floats. When the head suddenly stops, the brain continues, reverberates back. So when I hit, boom, my skull stops, but my brain continues forward for about a centimeter. Boom, boom, it reverberates back. So you could have padding that’s a foot thick. It’s not going to change the acceleration/deceleration phenomenon. And a lot of these injuries are rotational. The fibers get torn with rotation. You’ve got a face mask that’s like a fulcrum sitting out here: You get hit, your head swings around. That’s when a lot of these fibers are sheared—by rotation. A helmet can’t ever prevent that.

In fact, the article even argues that helmets have potentially made the game more dangerous because it makes players fearless to lead with their heads.

Suddenly I don't feel so bad about some of the "ballerina" rules that the NFL is taking up to protect players.

As a football fan, I know the intensity and excitement of the game suffers with more and more rules diminishing the "machismo" of the sport, but at the end of the day we're dealing with real people's lives here.

In any case, please read the article. It's excellent.

Yet again, we've had an other fourth-quarter semi-debacle. It looked like a "Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!" when the Steelers failed to kill the clock late in the game and gave the ball back to Daunte Culpepper. He drove the team 82 yards and tossed an easy touchdown that brought the game 28-20. All they needed now was another touchdown and a 2-pointer to tie the game. And by the way the defense was playing their prevent zone scheme, I didn't feel too good about holding the Lions back for a potential upset.

But then...

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I don't care whether it's Mathew Stafford or Daunte Culpepper. I sense a big game from the Steelers pass rush on this one. Stafford has been sacked 10 times already, mostly because he's a rookie and he's adjusting to the speed of the game. Culpepper was sacked 14 times last year in 5 games with the Lions, 21 times in 7 games with the Oakland Raiders (2007) and 21 times in 4 games with the Miami Dolphins (2006). Last time we faced him in fact was at home for the opening kickoff game of the 2006 NFL season when Culpepper was the Dolphin's QB.

As a quarterback, he's a bit of a big loaf and doesn't move around well when the pocket breaks down. I'm not sure what kind of offensive line the Lions have. I don't have access to footage, but since the team's running and passing games are both pretty average, we can assume the same about the line.

I would like to have Polamalu back just for the confusion factor he brings into a game, which helps sacks stats for the boys in the trenches, but I think we can handle this game without Troy.

This is the time for the defense to feast. Last week against the Chargers, our offense was able to build both momentum and confidence. This game could do the same for our rushing-the-passer approach that has gotten to the quarterback only 8 times in four games. We may rack four or five in this one if our coverage is good down field. I do suspect that once Troy is back in the lineup, our sacks will go way up. But if we can bring down whatever QB we face tomorrow at least four or five times, it will help bring this defense back to the kind of play we all love.

I'm sorry, but I'm definitely a stats guy. I'm the kind of guy that remembers exit numbers instead of exit "names" when driving on the highway (that's why I'm all discombobulated ever since I-279 changed its exit numbers within the last few months).

So with that said, here are some stats from today that I found interesting...

Rashard Mendenhall had more rushing yards in one game (165) than Willie Parker has had all season (159).

Also, it's shocking to know that Adrian Peterson is not the NFL leading rusher. There are four other players in front of him, and Chris Johnson is on pace for 1,700 yards for the season (and the Tennessee Titans are still 0-4? Crazy!)

We have had 3 different receivers with 100-yard games (Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes & Mike Wallace). Limas Sweed, on the other hand, has had 100 drops.

Ben Roethlisberger is the third-leading quarterback in the NFL with 1,193 passing yards. His 73.2 percent completion, however, is the best among all quarterbacks (Mewelde Moore, of course, has a 100 percent completion with his TD pass to Heath Miller). Payton Manning's completion percentage is 70.8.

Hines Ward is the 6th leading receiver and is on pace for 1,400 yards. That's nuts. Santonio Holmes is on pace for 1,100 yards. Holmes has converted 18 first downs, and Ward 15. Who is our "possession receiver" now?

Our offense (6th) is ranked the same as our defense (6th) in yardage imposed/allowed.

We have 8 sacks in 4 games, on pace for 32 ... a vast downgrade from the 51 sacks we logged last year.

Also, Ben is on pace for getting sacked 40 times, but I don't think we can blame the O-Line this year. They're playing tremendous football.

A quarter of the season is now in the books, and already a pattern is forming between the Steelers' Defense performance in the first quarter and their performance in the fourth.

It's not pretty.

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Maybe now we can!

... thanks to the signing of Isaac "Redzone" Redman who has been recently added to our squad.

It's very rare that a nation of fans get to grumble and moan and hypothesize on what "could have been" if only the coaches had...

Well, finally after 3 weeks of an atrocious running game that couldn't get a first down in the short-yardage department, we will see if the Fans had it right all along. We've all been screaming for Redman to be signed on the squad, but there wasn't enough room on the roster for him.

I've always thought that even if we signed Redman and the only thing he does is convert third-and-short, or even fourth-and-goal at the 1-foot line, who knows what kind of demoralization damage we can impose on other teams. Who knows how many drives might end in TDs instead of field goals.

Now we will find out.

The coaches made room by releasing DE Nick Eason. We will see how that plays out.

Personally, I'm really excited about this.

Either the coaches have been listening to the fans... or the coaches are seeing the same thing we've been seeing. Now, if only we had a TRUE full back.

Not sure how Jordan Maddox, running back for Keystone Oaks, is third in voting for the ESPN High School Player of the Week right now with only 14% of the votes, but his stats are by far the most impressive compared to the other guys.

I think this voting has become a beauty contest, not a contest of talent. The guy with the most friends wins. What's more impressive, completing 9 out of your 15 passes, or rushing for 172 yards and scoring FOUR touchdowns? Plus, Maddox played defense and led the team in tackles and had a pair of sacks int he same game.

Typically, I would agree with Tomlin that the most violent team wins the game, but in this coming match-up with the Bengals the Steelers need to be not only violent, but quick.


Bruce Arians needs to implement more of those slants to Santonio Holmes and screen passes to the running backs and Hines Ward to avoid pressure against Ben. These quick passes will keep the opposing defense winded.This Bengals defense will take advantage of us if we rely on deep bombs early on. In the first quarter, they will come at Ben at every play, but if we prove that we're faster than their pass rush, they'll slow down considerably by the second half.

Also, no slow-developing running plays. Run right at them. Hopefully Parker will regain his "Fast" status.

I think the Steelers running game can finally gain some ground in this one, unless we start falling behind on the score board. From what I've read around blogs, teams abandoned the run way too early against the Bengals, and yet they've still allowed 82 yards rushing per game. That may not seem like that much, but it's even more telling when you see that they allow an average of 4.3 yards per rushing attempt. That's a monstrous amount, and it should get Parker and company pretty excited. The O-line showed some big improvements against the Bears in the run game, and I think that will continue against the Bengals.

I was just looking at stats and standings on NFL.com and I saw something that I thought couldn't be possible. And it's even a little scary considering the Steelers play the Bengals next, but Cincinnati's DE

Antwan Odom has SEVEN -- count them, one, two, three, four, five, six, SEVEN -- sacks!  Five of them were against Green Bay.

As a team, the Bengals have nine sacks, so that tells you something. I don't know much about this guy... is he someone we should fear or did he have just have one monstrous game that likely won't happen again?

On the Loss: I'm not going to lynch Jeff Reed for this one. He's been very reliable for us so often in the past that we can't just blame this loss on him, even though he missed two field goals he normally makes. For the most part, the Bears made the opportunistic plays they needed to make. We could have gone up 14-0 on them in the second quarter, but they hit Ben Roethlisbergher on the pass and caused him to throw an INT. He had Wallace wide open for the score, but he under-threw him. We allowed the Bears to hang around and they're not a bad team, so they pulled off the win. This could be a humbling loss. I'm always interested to see how Tomlin has the boys bounce back from these types of games. It may prove to be alright after all. Kudos to the Bears, and kudos to Cry-Baby-Cutler for playing very well against us.

Now here are some notes on things I noticed in the game...

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 This article by the Chicago Sun Times tries to defend Jay Cutler's facial expressions and body language. The reality however is that acting like a furstrated cry-baby on the field affects your teammates. Period. Which affects the way your teammates play for you. Which affects their performance in the game. Which affects wins and losses. Which affects (and infuriates) fans.

via www.customauthenticjerseys.com

People are completely justified to criticize Cutler for the way he acts on the field.

 via 1.bp.blogspot.com

This isn't news but I wanted to comment on the Troy situation. He confirmed he'll be missing 3-6 weeks. I wish we had a more specific time line.

In the next six games, the Steelers play the Bears, Bengals, Chargers, Lions, Browns and Vikings.  I would say that we need Troy the most in the games against the Bears and the Chargers, which he would miss anyway even in best-case scenario.

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Big Ben Roethlisberger threw the ball 43 times against the Titans with 33 completions and we won the game. This tidbit of information doesn't seem all that shocking considering he threw for 363 yards.

Just a few years ago however, most sports critics judged Big Ben by one specific stat.

The magic number 30.

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