"Da Bears" Off Defending Champion Steelers

On a day where Brett Favre broke the all-time NFL record for consecutive starts by a non-kicker, a potentially bigger story emerged as the Chicago Bears returned to Soldier Field for their home opener to play the Pittsburgh Steelers. With Jay Cutler's four interceptions against Green Bay and the news that star linebacker and defensive captain Brian Urlacher would miss the rest of the season on Injured Reserve after having surgery on a dislocated wrist, there wasn't too much to be excited about in the Windy City.

That being said, the Steelers were coming into town after a close and hardly convincing win over AFC rival Tennessee with problems on the offensive line and no Troy Polomalu. This setup brought about a clash of young ace quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Jay Cutler. At first, the Bears offense looked benign, going 3 and out on their first two possessions while Pittsburgh scored on their opening drive. But after cornerback Charles Tillman intercepted an underthrown Roethlisberger pass, Cutler reinvigorated the offense with a 97-yard drive to end the first half capped off by a 6 yard touchdown pass to tight end Kellen Davis. The game took on the appearance of a slugfest later on as the Steelers scored again and Chicago responded, but two missed field goals by Jeff Reed proved to be the difference as Chicago's kicker, former Pro Bowler Robbie Gould, hit a strike from 44 yards away.

Bears Verdict - Resilient defense ailing, but offense shows signs of life: The Bears injury woes continued as defensive end Alex Brown joined Urlacher and outside linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa on the list of Bears defenders to go down with injuries. On the bright side, however, Jay Cutler looked much more like the player Chicago knew he could be when they traded two first round picks to get him. The Bears also seem to have struck gold with seventh round pick Johnny Knox, a rookie out of Abeline Christian with blazing speed and good hands who led the Bears with 70 recieving yards and the second Chicago touchdown. Knox also showed off his speed on a 50 yard kickoff return that was called back for a holding penalty.

Steelers Verdict - Inconsistency badgers the defending champs: Last week, the Steelers capitalized on two misses by Titans kicker Rob Bironas, but this time it was Jeff Reed who felt the sting of cracking under pressure (it was hard not to feel sorry for him after seeing his expression on the sideline). Even so, the Steelers D performed admirably even without Troy Polomalu, producing an unforgettable highlight in the form of Tyrone Carter's bonecrunching hit on Bears tight end Greg Olsen. Their offensive line also showed flashes of their championship quality as Willy Parker rushed for more than twice as many yards as he did last week. Regrettably, his tally remained a paltry 47 yards as he was dogged by Bears defenders on multiple occasions.