Turnovers doom Steelers in 40-23 setback
PITTSBURGH — After another rocky start, the Steelers made a game of it, to the delight of NBC execs everywhere, before losing to the Chicago Bears, 40-23, Sunday night at Heinz Field.
As a result, the NFL and CBS get the black eye associated with next week’s game in London, where the 0-3 Steelers host the 0-3 Minnesota Vikings.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin wasn’t thrilled that the Steelers were able to mount a comeback, either, not with his team coughing up the ball five times, including four from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
“Outcomes of NFL games are simple,” Tomlin said. “It’s black and white. You’ve got to ring up the scoreboard, you’ve got to maintain possession of the ball and you’ve got to stop people. Obviously, we’re not putting together enough of a combination of those things to be victorious at this point.”
Chicago scored 17 first-quarter points and 14 more in the fourth quarter, with Steelers turnovers playing into both. After surviving the early miscues, they simply couldn’t overcome two fourth-quarter plays.
The first was a 41-yard pass from Jay Cutler to Brandon Marshall, which led to a 17-yard scoring pass to Earl Bennett. The second was a sack-fumble by Lance Briggs that Julius Peppers recovered and returned 42 yards for a touchdown with 4:09 remaining.
It was the fourth turnover of five for the Steelers in the game. Ben Roethlisberger suffered another sack-fumble earlier, Felix Jones lost a fumble and Major Wright returned an interception 39 yards for a touchdown. Roethlisberger was intercepted on his last throw of the night.
“You are not going to win football games when you turn the ball over the way we did tonight,” Tomlin said immediately after. “We’ve got to get better. We know it. We knew that those guys are about the best in the world at turning it over and we talked about it all week, but that didn’t stop them from doing it again.”
Speaking of next week’s game in London and the different challenges such a trip can present, Tomlin was to the point.
“It’s not any different for us until we get there,” he said. “And we don’t leave until Thursday, when our work is done for the week. Obviously, we have a lot of work to do between now and then.”
By the time the first quarter ended, the Bears held a 17-0 lead on the strength of a Robbie Gould field goal and two short TD runs, one each for Matt Forte and Michael Bush.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, had managed two first downs, with a punt and a turnover. Ben Roethlisberger was sacked twice, both by D.J. Williams, the first one a strip-sack that was recovered by Chicago teammate James Anderson.
The turnover led to Chicago’s first touchdown and a 10-0 lead, with Forte scoring from the 5-yard line.
Forte set up Chicago’s next score with a 55-yard run to the Pittsburgh 5-yard line and a pass interference penalty against Ike Taylor moved it to a first-and-goal from the 1.
It took four Chicago plays, but Bush scored on fourth down to make it 17-0.
Roethlsberger and Antonio Brown got the Steelers on the scoreboard by hooking up on two pass plays, one for 18 yards and then other covering 45. Pittsburgh settled for a 27-yard Shaun Suisham field goal to make it 17-3.
After the defense forced a Chicago punt, Roethlisberger, of all people, put the Bears on the board again. His pass, intended for Jerricho Cotchery but overthrown, was intercepted by Major Wright, who returned it 38 yards 8:57 before halftime to keep Chicago in command, 24-3.
The Bears managed to keep the Steelers offense on the field, when punter Zoltan Mesko drew a personal foul and the Steelers cashed in when Roethlisberger hit Brown from 33 yards out to close the gap to 24-10 with 6:27 remaining in the first half.
The running game came to life late in the second quarter (5.5 yard average at the break), but the Steelers had to punt and the Bears were content going to the locker room with a 24-10 lead.
New starting running back Felix Jones fumbled on a hit by Wright to open the second half and Chicago took over at the Pittsburgh 29-yard line. The Bears settled for a 32-yard Gould field goal and a 27-10 lead, but the Steelers offense responded with a drive that ended with a 36-yard Suisham field goal to keep it a two-touchdown game, 27-13, with 5:38 remaining in the third quarter.
Tomlin noted that there was no need to pat anybody on the back for climbing back into this game.
“I’m not going to pat them on the back for sticking together,” he said. “I expect them to stick together and I just told them the same thing.”
The Steelers got in scoring range again before the third quarter expired on back-to-back passes to Heath Miller and Emmanuel Sanders before Brown cashed in on a 21-yard reception and, with 1:50 remaining in the third, the deficit was only a touchdown, 27-20.
Pittsburgh took over again early in the fourth quarter and cut the deficit to four points, 27-23, on a Suisham field goal from 44 yards out. The drive covered 52 yards on 11 plays.
Chicago, though, stayed unbeaten on its next drive, as Jay Cutler passed to Brandon Marshall for 41 yards before throwing to Earl Bennett from 17 yards out for the clinching touchdown and a 34-23 lead with 5:48 remaining.