Bears/Steelers Game Preview 9/20/09

Football is back again at Soldier Field. The defending Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers come into town after their week 1 win last Thursday against the Tennessee Titans. The Steelers won that game 13-10 thanks to a field goal in overtime by Jeff Reed to move them to 1-0 on the season. Santonio Holmes had 9 receptions for 131 yards in the game with a TD. Look for him to have another stellar game against a shaky Bears secondary. Ben Roethlisberger went 33-43 with 363 passing yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions. While the Steelers passing game was above average, the run game was horrible to say the least. Willie Parker ran for 19 yards on 13 carries against the Titans and now he has to go up against a pretty good run defense in the Chicago Bears. The big news out of week 1 for the Steelers was that Troy Polamalu tore his MCL and is out for 3-6 weeks. Polamalu is the Steelers defensive leader.

Like the Steelers, the Bears also lost their defensive leader in Brian Urlacher in their only game. While it's debatable (or not really) that Urlacher is still the best Bears defensive player like Polamalu, it's still a huge loss for the Bears. The Bears are coming off a less than average game against division rival Green Bay Packers losing 21-15 on a late TD reception by Greg Jennings. Jay Cutler had a horrible debut throwing for 4 interceptions. He did throw for 277 passing yards and a touchdown to Devin Hester but he only completed 17 passes out of 36. Hester had a pretty good game caching 4 passes for 90 yards including that TD reception. Bears running back Matt Forte also struggled in the Bears opening game. Forte rushed for 55 yards on 25 carries against the Packers. The only real bright spot for the Bears in their opening game was the performance of their defensive line. Led by Adawale Ogunleye, the Bears sacked Packers QB Aaron Rodgers 4 times and put a ton of pressure on him. Another bright spot was Bears rookie WR Johnny Knox who caught a 68 yard pass from Cutler that should have led to a Bears TD but Cutler threw an interception in the Bears red zone.

This week, the Bears have to face yet another 3-4 defense. Look for a lot of pressure to be put on Cutler from the Steelers offensive line like the Packers put on him last week. Personally, I think the Bears bounce back this week and take this one 27-17. I think all the pressure is on Cutler and he'll come out and have a good game like he did in that 2nd preseason game against the New York Giants.

Urlacher article

The Tribune's Vaughn McClure has a nice piece on Brian Urlacher. Urlacher says in the article that if he could play, he would but the doctors warned him that if he did play, it could become a career ending injury. The doctors also told Urlacher that this is one of the worst injuries you could have to your hand.

Check back tomorrow after the game for my recap. If the Bears win, expect an early recap. If they lose, expect one at around midnight.