Steelers vs. Bears Preview

[Stosh-67]

Big Monday Night Football game.

Steelers ( 4-3 ) at home vs the Bears ( 3-5 ).
The point spread is up to 7.0.
I am not sure what it opened at, but it was lower than 7.
Over Under. 39.5

Steelers need to come out on fire and be the aggressor.
We can not play it close to the vest, to keep it close, to win the field position battle and to play to win by a FG.
We can not throw short of the sticks on third down.
We can not waste 3rd and shorts with low percentage deep shots.

Steelers , first and foremost, must stop the Bears run game, as they are averaging 150 yards a game over their last 5.
Looks like David Montgomery will suit up, probably see limited action.
Bears will rotate backs anyway, and Fields will scramble too, as they have 4 guys with 37 or more carries.
Herbert 81, Montgomery 69, Fields 44, Williams, 37.

On the other hand, 7 games into the season, the Steelers have one guy, other than Harris, with more than 8 carries, and that is Big Ben with 9.
Harris 128, Ben 9, Ballage 8, Snell 7,
Madness. Madness.

That being said, the Bears are giving up 160 yards a game over the last 3.
I expect Harris to carry the ball 26-30+ times tonight.

With the Bears looking to run it and the Steelers feeding Harris.
This game will see the clock roll fast and fewer possessions. Shortening the game, limiting possessions helps the lesser team stay close longer.

Stop the run and put Fields in passing situations. Win first downs.
Fields is only completing 59% of his passes. Has only 3 TD's and 7 INT's

May be frustrating, but we may see a lot of rush 4 and drop 7 to keep the secondary packed with small windows.
Blitzing too much also gives Fields less defenders downfield when he scrambles.

Get to the QB and make a running QB pay.
Bears have given up 30 sacks in 8 games. Most sacks given up in the NFL.

On offense, the Steelers need to protect Ben.
As much as the young OL has had to go thru their growing pains, Ben has only been sacked 14 times. Only 6 teams have been sacked less.
That being said. Ben was only sacked 13 times in 15 games last year and he has been sacked more than that in half the games in 2021.
Of course, in 2020 he got rid of the ball on average, faster than any human being in the history of sports............
In 2021 he is on pace to be sacked more times in one season since, 2013.

Bears do have two guys that get after the QB.
Khalil Mack, 6 and Robert Quinn 5.5.
Roquan Smith has 2 sacks and will blitz.

I hope they learned from last week how a pass rusher can disrupt the passing game.
Still amazing to me that Garrett was not double and chipped to keep him from wrecking the backfield.
Moore was given very little help, even on huge downs and the 2 point conversions.
Take away the opponents best player.
Madness.

Ben needs to keep the mojo going with his TE's
Quick passes in the middle of the field to those two big guys should be the easiest throws for Ben to make, complete and move the chains.

Steelers need to win first downs. Be unpredictable on first downs.
Limit stupid backwards play calls when we are moving the ball.
Get up early.
Play to score 30.

Go Steelers

[DP39]

Good stuff. Thanks, Stosh!

Go Steelers!

[bradshaw2ben]

Bears are tough vs run in the middle of the D, not so good on the edges. Could be a game where Harris and or even AntMac get some edge runs. If they're seeing the Bers' film the way I do.

Also, Ben can hit TEs and RB in MOF with impunity. They don't have much in the way of coverage there––certainly not as good as even the mixed bag they have on the outside.

The worst thing the Steelers O could do would be to come out and try to run Najee up the gut of this D on 1st and 2nd down and the best thing they could do would be to throw to TEs on 1st down, run their 3rd down package on 2nd down, give yourself options on 3rd downs. If you even get to 3rd down.

[Roeth2Rudolph]

Luckily Mack is out, and I agree, they gotta keep Gentry almighty on the field a high percentage of the time. It was working last week, and we haven't been able to say that about many aspects of the offense so far this season.

[Jobu]

The worst thing the Steelers O could do would be to come out and try to run Najee up the gut of this D on 1st and 2nd down and the best thing they could do would be to throw to TEs on 1st down, run their 3rd down package on 2nd down, give yourself options on 3rd downs. If you even get to 3rd down.

Ummm…

[COR-TEN]

The worst thing the Steelers O could do would be to come out and try to run Najee up the gut of this D on 1st and 2nd down and the best thing they could do would be to throw to TEs on 1st down, run their 3rd down package on 2nd down, give yourself options on 3rd downs. If you even get to 3rd down.

Ummm…

At least you are prepared for it, right?

[Jobu]

The worst thing the Steelers O could do would be to come out and try to run Najee up the gut of this D on 1st and 2nd down and the best thing they could do would be to throw to TEs on 1st down, run their 3rd down package on 2nd down, give yourself options on 3rd downs. If you even get to 3rd down.

Ummm…

At least you are prepared for it, right?

Aren’t we all…

[Stosh-67]

Bears are tough vs run in the middle of the D, not so good on the edges. Could be a game where Harris and or even AntMac get some edge runs. If they're seeing the Bers' film the way I do.

Also, Ben can hit TEs and RB in MOF with impunity. They don't have much in the way of coverage there––certainly not as good as even the mixed bag they have on the outside.

The worst thing the Steelers O could do would be to come out and try to run Najee up the gut of this D on 1st and 2nd down and the best thing they could do would be to throw to TEs on 1st down, run their 3rd down package on 2nd down, give yourself options on 3rd downs. If you even get to 3rd down.

I second your TE and RB passes.
7 targets each of the last two games to Fry.
Gentry a bit more involved.
More and more passes to these guys and making safities think about covering the middle.......will help the guys on the outside.
Will help Bens deep ball by letting safties know they can not cheat as much to the outside.

Seems like the quick 6-8 yard slant to the slot WR is few and far between, which is another play that will attack between the hashes.
I think we ended the game last week on that quick slant to Dionte.
Need to see more of it during the game.

Lets see some planned pump fakes from Ben, double moves.
Pump the WR screen.....strike down the sideline to the releasing WR in the 10-15 yard range.

I too, hope they do not just run Najee betwen the tackles.
The run game is so simple and basic. Very little variation.
I will have to watch closer tonight, but I do not see much pulling, counters, sweeps, etc.

Loved the guard pulling left, follwed by TE and RB.

Problem with pulling is,
1. the ability of the offensive linemen to pull, quick out of snap, feet, burst. Do not think Turner has that skill, or has it any longer. He is only 28, but plays much older and heavier. I think he is closer to 350 than his listed weight of 320. 340 min.
2. Green may be too green to be pulling. Alot to ask of a rookie center to be helping with the calls, snapping, getting hands up, anchoring, not getting trucked, etc. Maybe 8th game in he can start moving and pulling. He did seem to get down the field on WR / RB screens a few times if I recall.
3. Dotson seems like the best candidate to pull.
4. Is Chucks or Moore capabale of moving that far?
5. Trust in each other to pick up assignments and defender the pulling player leaves.........will be picked up.

[SteelerDayTrader]

The worst thing the Steelers O could do would be to come out and try to run Najee up the gut of this D on 1st and 2nd down and the best thing they could do would be to throw to TEs on 1st down, run their 3rd down package on 2nd down, give yourself options on 3rd downs. If you even get to 3rd down.

Ummm…

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