Stop if this headline sounds familiar. The Pittsburgh Steelers lost a road game in a different time zone to a bad team. This was a classic case of Mike Tomlin not having his team prepared for a bad game. Because of this, the Steelers fell to the Chicago Bears 23-17 in overtime. The Bears got their first victory, gashing a poor tackling Steelers defense with their run game. On the offensive side, the Steelers struggled to find a rhythm, scoring only 17 points. The devastating loss can be attributed to a lack of mental focus, fundamental execution, and disappointments all around.
Week Three Pittsburgh Steelers Takeaways
The lack of mental focus has always been an issue with the Mike Tomlin coached Steelers. Many times, the Steelers have played a bad team and lost. These games are easy to pick out on the schedule. Typically they are on the road, against a poor team, and often are followed by an important game. Next week, the Steelers travel to Baltimore to face the Baltimore Ravens for first place in the AFC North. This is an important game, and may have been where most of the Steelers focus was on Sunday, among other distractors.
Complete Lack of Focus Leads to Letdown
Distractions can be detrimental to production on the field, only if it is not properly managed. We have seen how the Steelers have poorly managed distractions as recently as last postseason. All things said, the Pittsburgh Steelers are a better football team than the Chicago Bears. In a one game season at a neutral field with no other distractions, the Steelers win the game. But on Sunday, the Steelers played as if the Bears were not their number one focus, leading to poor play.
Fundamentals Need Fixed
Another key factor to the Steelers missed opportunity on Sunday was the lack of execution of fundamentals. On Pittsburgh’s first offensive play of the game, Martavis Bryant dropped a sure touchdown from Ben Roethlisberger that certainly should have been caught. On the Steelers final drive of the first half, they should have had three points with a Chris Boswell field goal. However, the field goal was blocked and resulted in a field goal for Chicago before the end of the half. The Steelers failed to take advantage of easy chances for points.
Disappointments All Around
The disappointments cannot be pinpointed on any side of the ball. Instead, they can be found in all aspects of the Steelers game Sunday. Offensively, this week was a huge drop off from last week where everything ran smoothly. Defensively, the tackling reached an all time low. There has always been a complaint about bad tackling, especially from the secondary. But it seemed contagious Sunday, allowing Jordan Howard to run for 138 yards and two touchdowns.
Looking Ahead
The conclusion from Sunday is that this was an uncharacteristically bad loss. Don’t expect this type of loss from a team we expect to compete for a Super Bowl this season. In that same breath, we expect a huge turnaround next week against the Baltimore Ravens. If anyone’s 100% focus is not on the Baltimore Ravens next Sunday, the Steelers will have more issues and a decline of play. Next week’s game is not only a heated rivalry, but also a huge game in the scheme of the AFC North.
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