Sep 24, 2017 By Jim Wexell for The 9 min read

MEMORABLE SERIES MOMENT

Steelers 37, Bears 34 (OT)

Nov. 5, 1995, at Soldier Field

The Steelers had never won in Chicago, and the 6-2 Bears of Dave Wannstedt took a 27-20 lead early in the fourth quarter behind QB Erik Kramer. The Steelers tied the game on Erric Pegram’s second touchdown run of the day, but Alonzo Spellman tipped a Neil O’Donnell pass near the goal line and it was intercepted by linebacker Barry Minter and returned two yards for a touchdown and a 34-27 Bears lead with 8:46 left. The only remaining starter from the ’85 Bears team, Kevin Butler, missed a 44-yard field goal that would’ve clinched the game, and O’Donnell led the Steelers to the tying touchdown, a 10-yard pass to Ernie Mills, with 1:06 left. In overtime, blitzing cornerback Carnell Lake forced a third-down incompletion, and O’Donnell led the Steelers 63 yards for a short Norm Johnson field goal and a 5-4 record. It was the second of eight consecutive wins for the Super Bowl-bound Steelers, and also marked the receiving debut of rookie QB Kordell Stewart. His 27-yard reception was the first of 14 that season as “Slash.”

TALE OF THE TAPE

“It’s been a revolving door at the inner three O-line positions, with five or six different combinations. If you’re going to pick the pigeon where you want to bring pressure, it’s there. I think Cam Heyward and Stephon Tuitt is a great matchup against those inner three. That’s where you’re going to get in the face of Mike Glennon. When Glennon has a clean pocket, he does a great job of throwing with accuracy. But as soon as you collapse the pocket on him, he’ll throw in the face of pressure but his accuracy goes out the window. If I’m Keith Butler, I’m putting Tuitt and Heyward in 3-techniques and having them jet up the field in between the guard and tackle, and I’m going to bring both Ryan Shazier and Vince Williams up in the A gap and run the double-barrel blitz or the fire-x. I don’t know if those guys can pick that twist up.” — Steelers Radio Network analyst Tunch Ilkin.

TOP QUESTION

Can the Steelers find, and then stop, Tarik Cohen?

North Carolina A&T has turned out Dwaine Board, Jamain Stephens and now Cohen, a 5-6, 179-pound rookie running back who’s tied with Antonio Brown for second in the NFL with 16 receptions. Cohen lines up alone in the backfield, with Jordan Howard in the backfield, in the slot, at wide receiver and as a punt returner. “He is lightning in a bottle,” said Butler, the Steelers’ defensive coordinator.

THREE QUESTIONS: With ILB RYAN SHAZIER

Q: Did Mike Tomlin show you guys the Glennon win against the Steelers in 2014?

RS: “He was just showing us some of the situations that he was beating us in, his presence in the pocket, and just telling us that he’s beaten us before so he’s not going to be open-eyed to playing the Steelers and thinking it’s something that it’s not. I feel like we have a great defense but he’s played us before and we have to go out there and show him who we are now.”

Q: Might he be confident he can do it again?

RS: “Whenever you beat somebody, no matter who it is, you always gain confidence and feel like you can beat them again. He’s probably going in there telling the guys, ‘Hey, man, I’ve done it before on a team that wasn’t the favorite,’ like this case.”

Q: Are the veterans stressing to younger guys that 2-0 vs. 0-2 isn’t going to be easy?

RS: “I think because of last year a lot of us understand that. We started off 2-0 and then got smoked in Philly. We were the favorites in that game and got smoked. I think everybody understands this is the NFL and any given moment you could lose, and I think those guys understand how important it is to make it to the Super Bowl and playoffs, and to do that you have to try to get it through Pittsburgh and you’ve got to win all the games you can. So I don’t think anyone’s taking it lightly.”

GAME BREAKDOWN

What to look for from the 2-0 Steelers against the 0-2 Bears today at 1 o’clock at Soldier Field:

ON OFFENSE:

Marcus Gilbert has been ruled out and will be replaced at RT by Chris Hubbard, with B.J. Finney sliding into Hubbard’s TE role. Other than that, the offensive is healthy and Ben Roethlisberger can fully attack a pass defense that ranks 28th in yards allowed per attempt, has only four sacks and no interceptions. The Steelers’ receiving corps should be ready to take off now that Nos. 2 and 3 WRs Martavis Bryant and JuJu Smith-Schuster have two games under their belts. They’ll need at least all four WRs coming through in what’s predicted to be 87-degree heat.

ON DEFENSE:

Aside from Cohen, the other offensive weapon for the Bears is Markus Wheaton, who returned from an appendectomy to suffer a compound break in his hand his first day back at camp. He’s making his Bears debut today and Chicago is excited “because they finally feel like they have a wide receiver who can stretch the defense,” Ilkin said of the former Steeler. “That tells you they’re not really confident in their receiving corps.” The Steelers hope to pressure the 6-7 Glennon with a quartet of outside backers that includes James Harrison but doesn’t include injured rookie T.J. Watt.

PREDICTION

I always liked as a solid No. 2, but if he’s your No. 1 receiving threat, I’m feeling pretty good about my chances. The Steelers won’t breeze, because it is on the road, but there’s no reason they shouldn’t win. This isn’t the flat spot like some of those other September surprises. … Steelers, 23-13.

BY THE NUMBERS

1: Number of Steelers wins in Chicago in 13 games that stretch back to the 1936 season. The last Steelers’ loss in Chicago occurred in 2009.

5: Multiple-sack games by Bears DE Akiem Hicks, who sacked Atlanta QB Matt Ryan twice in the opener.

9: Consecutive wins by the Steelers in regular-season play.

125: Regular-season wins by Roethlisberger, the seventh QB to reach that plateau.

329: Combined fourth-quarter yardage by Glennon, the most by any NFL quarterback in consecutive games since 1991.

1,313: Rushing yards last season by Bears fifth-rounder Jordan Howard, who ended up in the Pro Bowl.

DOWNLOADS

n The Steelers sacked Glennon only one time in their loss to Tampa Bay in 2014. While the Bucs would win only one more game that year, the Steelers, particularly on defense, were far from what they’ve built themselves into today. The starting front seven on defense back then included only Cam Heyward from today’s starting front. Cornerbacks Will Gay, Cortez Allen and Brice McCain were victimized for 302 passing yards by Glennon, his second-highest total to the 314 he compiled in a blowout loss to Baltimore that season.

n Roethlisberger since the start of the 2014 season has a road winning percentage of .609 and a road passer rating of 85.6, compared to .810 and 111.2, respectively, at home. The Steelers’ offensive coordinator hopes that dichotomy is evening out. “We got a road win right out the gate at Cleveland in a difficult environment,” said Todd Haley. “And I would expect, having coached in Chicago for three years, they’ll come out making noise, so it’s getting used to the environment in general.”

n Le’Veon Bell is off to the slowest start of his pro career. While his 3.2 average per carry tops the 2.8 of the first two games of his rookie season, his 138 yards of total offense are the fewest of any two-game start in his five-year career. Many fans are wondering if he’s still recovering from offseason groin surgery, but Bell said no. “I haven’t thought about it since the season started. I feel good. I feel 100 percent,” he said.

“He was better than he was the first week,” said Haley. “I would expect him to be better this week.”

n Cohen’s 4.42 40 disappointed those who expected him to run in the 4.2s at the last NFL Combine, but the 179-pounder was still drafted in the middle of the fourth round. He’s been running the way Dri Archer was supposed to run after his official Combine time of 4.26.

“A lot of times the 40 isn’t your speed in terms of how you play the game,” Butler said of Cohen. “He plays fast. He’s done a good job of making big plays for them and reversing the field, stuff like that, when he’s running the ball and getting downfield when he’s running routes. I saw what we call a triple seam where he ran an over route and got behind the DB. He’s a versatile guy that they are fortunate to have on the team.”

n Steelers nickel back Mike Hilton has gone from OTA sleeper to last Sunday playing the third-highest number of snaps among defensive players. Hilton played 54 snaps on defense and 15 snaps on special teams to finish with 69 snaps, just behind Sean Davis’ 72 and Artie Burns’ 71.

“He produces on the field,” Butler said. “We saw him in camp, we liked him in camp, we kept playing him in the preseason, he kept doing the things we like to see at that position, and so we got in the regular season and thought ‘Why don’t we play this guy?’ He keeps doing the same stuff we ask him to do and he’s been pretty good at it.”

PARTING SHOT

“Oh and two can be very deceiving. They took Atlanta to the brink, and then the turnovers they had last week kind of made the game a little bit different than it should’ve been. We’ve got a good test for us. You can’t say it’s a trap game because they’re a good — really good — team.” — Steelers DL Cameron Heyward.