Steelers vs. Bears, Week 9: Knee Jerk Reactions to the Steelers 29-27 win over the Bears

Knee-jerk Reactions are immediate responses to a situation without taking the time to analyze the situation. That’s something as sports fans that we typically do. Especially if you are a full blood Yinzer, or even just a part Yinzer, who am I fooling it’s more like if you are a Steeler fan in general. As is the custom, I compile my knee-jerk thoughts and publish them immediately after each Steelers game (my son Kyle might have a few things to say as well). It’s my version of running my mouth first and apologizing later. So with that being said, I’m going to employ that philosophy here during Week 9 of the 2021 NFL Season. Let’s get this going, HERE......WE......GO!!!

1st Quarter

• All my rowdy friends are here on Monday night! And I mean here, at Heinz Field, in the ‘Burgh. So while I am here screaming my head off I think Dave will be sharing his knee jerks so I can concentrate on losing my voice for the next three days.
• Little Bro Scho reaches his hand over the rope and gets the tag…
• The Steelers start a new streak as they win the coin toss for the second-straight week and will kick off.
• Stopping the run, giving up only a short pass, and the Steelers hold the Bears to three and out on their first possession. I like that start.
• There’s a nice little return for Ray-Ray McCloud. The Steelers with good field position to start at their own 41-yard line.
• The Steelers start with Derek Watt on the field with two tight ends yet spread the Bears out five wide. Claypool can’t come up with the catch, but a penalty starts the drive over 5 yards downfield.
• Claypool pulls that one down for 26 yards on third down!
• If they’re not going to throw the ball to James Washington, at least they hand it off to him for a nice run.
• This touchdown brought to you courtesy of Najee Harris! He makes 10 yards look like nothing.
• There’s something we get to see for the first time in over two weeks… a Chris Boswell PAT. Too soon?
• Keep that momentum going! Kickoff team holds the Bears to the 11-yard line.
• Bears not helping themselves with penalties.
• Justin Fields completes a short pass on third and long but takes a pretty big hit from Alex Highsmith.
• Steelers with a nice field position again as they start close to midfield at their own 42-yard line.
• Love the shovel pass to Freiermuth on second and 10 just shy of the first down. You can really hear the crowd coming through with MMMMUUUUUTTTTTHHHHH!
• The first sack of the night goes to the Bears. Dan Moore Jr. got his feet crossed up on that one.
• After the drive stalls, Big Press puts the Bears right back to their own 12-yard line.
• Seriously? They spotted that as a first down? It looked like Fields reached that ball after he had already gone out of bounds.
• That will go down as a sack for T.J. Watt! Wormley got him to tuck it and Watt finished it off.
• Cam Heyward with a huge play for the interception! Enjoy that celebration right in front of you, Big Bro!
• Wormley might have hit that ball first, but who cares. It’s the second career interception by Cam Heyward
• Steelers going for it on fourth and short and Harris gets the first down as he has all four carries on the drive.
• That ends the first quarter with the Steelers looking to get their first touchdown off a turnover this season. Steelers 7 Bears 0

2nd Quarter

• Kendrick Green mixing it up after the tough Benny Snell run.
• How did Diontae Johnson catch that? Or even better, how did the defender not hit it? Either way it’s a nice play for the Steelers.
• I think Ben Roethlisberger pump faked the official out of that one. How do they not see that the defender was grabbing Claypool well before the ball was there?
• Roethlisberger to Freiermuth for the touchdown on third down! Give this team a two touchdown lead! The offensive line gave their quarterback all day to make that play.
• The Steelers defense is hitting right now! First Highsmith on the first-down run then Fitzpatrick on the incompletion.
• Minkah follows it up with a big hit on Fields on third down! And for those wanting a helmet-to-helmet hit, Fields put his helmet down to Fitzpatrick, not the other way around.
• Penalties kill drives. The Steelers can’t find a first down after a holding call
• Big Press with a shank. Only 32 yards on the punt giving the Bears great field position.
• Bears take good field position and get a 25-yard pass on first down. One play and they’re in field goal range.
• T.J. Watt with the huge sack to take them almost out of field goal range. Got to hold them on third down now.
• The penalty on third down followed by an incompletion forces the Bears to punt again.
• It’s a Derek Watt sighting! Picks up three yards on the shovel pass.
• That’s a nice play by the Bears defender on third down to hold Kevin Rader to no gain.
• A little better on the next punt, but not much. Although the Bears player did touch it, the officials weren’t going to let that go down in that manner.
• Don’t like seeing another player grabbing the groin area as Buggs heads into the medical tent.
• Steelers stuff the Bears on two-straight plays but jump across on fourth down. That’s alright Cam, we still love you.
• Good to see Buggs back out there. Maybe he “took a shot” rather than pulled something if you know what I mean.
• Bears push it down to first and goal inside the final minute of the half. Defense needs to hold them to three right here.
• Joe Haden gets a fingertip on the pass which keeps the tight end from pulling it in for a touchdown.
• Heinz Field is rocking it so much tonight the players don’t even know when the whistle blows!
• There goes the shut out, but the Steelers hold them to three.
• Getting the ball to start the second half, the Steelers just take a knee with 15 seconds left. Steelers 14 Bears 3

3rd Quarter

• Roethlisberger goes down on the first play of the half on the late hit penalty. I think the worst part was his head hitting Dan Moore on the way down.
• It looked like Roethlisberger was going to run for the first down there. I’m glad he didn’t try even though the Steelers didn’t convert. This game has turned into quite the hard-hitting affair.
• Big Press comes back and pins the Bears at the 7-yard line.
• The Steelers pressure can’t get to Fields on third down and he has time to throw on the run for the first. It’s only their second third-down conversion of the night.
• Bears with the big 50-yard pass. But did he really catch it? Challenge upcoming.
• Knowing Tomlin’s track record, I just have a gut feeling they won’t overturn it.
• I think both ESPN and New York needed that catch to stand as they don’t want this game getting out of hand.
• Bears look to have a touchdown, but get called for the 15-yard penalty.
• Now fields takes a shot from Cam Sutton scrambling on second down.
• Steelers lucky to not get called for the late hit on third down, but the right tackle keeps moving early and they don’t flag that either. Instead Chicago settles for another field goal. It’s back to a one score game.
• Ben Roethlisberger throws that ball about 5 yards short as he has pressure coming from behind but still completes it for 42 yards to James Washington. Great job by the receiver adjusting to come get the ball.
• What a block by Freiermuth on that end around to Diontae Johnson!
• Najee Harris goes up and over for the fourth-down conversion.
• Really? A timeout? After losing one on the challenge, now the Steelers are down to just one for the rest of the game! I can’t stand that.
• Pat Freiermuth with another monster job blocking on an end around, this time to Chase Claypool for the first down.
• Freiermuth with his second touchdown of the game, but flags are down. It doesn’t matter because it’s defensive pass interference! MMMUUUTTTHHH!
• Anybody else feel cheated in their celebration as they waited for the call with the penalty? I do. At least I didn’t wake up the dog.
• Boswell does the unthinkable and misses the PAT. Couldn’t tell if there was a problem with the hold as it floats to the left. But is still a 14-point lead.
• Bears move it across midfield as the clock expires. At the end of the 3rd quarter it’s Steelers 20 Bears 6

4th Quarter

• Wow, that was fast. It takes the Bears two plays to finish the drive with a touchdown. Offense still has work to do.
• That’s an easy call for pass interference with the ball to Deonte Johnson. The defender never turned around.
• Harris pushes for 9 yards on the shovel pass as two different players grab his face mask.
• Freiermuth with another killer block on a wide receiver run. Unfortunately it’s in the backfield this time so it doesn’t spring Johnson enough for the first down.
• After Harris doesn’t gain anything on fourth, Boswell comes back after the missed PAT and knocks down to 54-yard field goal!
• Renegade is blaring as the game comes out of commercial. It looks like it might be a decent return by the Bears, but instead James Pierre knocks it out and Boswell gets the recovery! Steelers ball yet again! Who said Renegade doesn’t work anymore?
• Doesn’t that sideline camera angle show that Washington actually had the first town? If only the Steelers had more than one time out they could challenge it.
• Claypool runs for the first down. It doesn’t have to be a big play, just hast to get the yards to move the chains.
• Blown blocking assignment and Ben Roethlisberger gets sacked for a huge loss. That’s the first big breakdown in pass protection tonight.
• The sack kills the drive and the throw off target keep the Steelers from getting into field goal range. The punt trickles into the end zone for a touchback.
• T.J. Watt gets another sack, this time on third down to force a three and out!
• We’ll see how the sack gets scored. Heyward might get half of it.
• And just like that, the Steelers fumble the punt and give up the touchdown.
• This was supposed to be the Steelers getting the ball back to put the game away, now it’s only a three-point game. Why can’t it ever be easy?
• Harris looks to be bottled up for nothing but bounces it and gets 13 yards. It might be Harris having to take this game over for the Steelers to win.
• Claypool catches the quick slant for 4 yards but is banged up on the play. Not good.
• Big third down coming. What are the Steelers going to do?
• The pass beyond the first down marker is brought in by Diontae Johnson for a big conversion. Bears were offsides but it doesn’t matter.
• Claypool is back on the field.
• Almost another disaster but it’s ruled an incomplete pass. It was the right call.
• Nobody is open as Roethlisberger holds on to the ball forever. Did he really just let the Pokémon King get a sack against him?
• And after the play Marsh gets called for taunting his old team and gives up the first down!
• The ESPN announcers have no clue that Cassius Marsh played for the Steelers last year. Context is everything.
• Ben goes down again leaving a third and forever.
• Roethlisberger throws it short but does get enough for another long field goal attempt.
• Boswell knocks through another one over 50 yards!
• It’s a six point game with less than three minutes to go. Someone’s going to have to make a big play.
• NO!!! Cam Hayward is down after the play.
• Heyward is back in but Fields runs for the first down despite the hold on Cam Sutton.
• Went after Arthur Maulet on both plays coming out of the two minute warning. Big play into the red zone and the next play is a touchdown. Steelers trail by a point.
• How did we get to this point?
• I don’t even know what to think right now.
• Chicago keeps lining up offsides. But this time Diontae Johnson gets it down in field goal range. The Steelers need to get it closer.
• Now the Steelers with the false start and it drops them to the cusp of field goal range.
• MMMMUUUUTTTTHHHH!
• Ben with the keeper! Unfortunately he is ruled down just short of the line.
• Boswell is on for the kick…
• And it’s good! I just don’t like that there is 0:26 left.
• Bears getting yards but it’s taking time.
• Watt knocks it down! Last play coming from the Steelers 48-yard line...
• Wow. Going for the 65-yarder...
• Holy. Freakin’. Crap.
• Did that look like it was going to be good?
• I have no idea what to think right now.
• On replay, it was nowhere close.
• The game has been over for almost 5 minutes and I’m still nervous. But it’s final. Steelers 29 Bears 27

There you have it, my knee jerks. What were your thoughts? Be sure to get your opinions heard in the comment section below. Now time for me to process it, do some quick analyzing for the Scho Bro Show, and then put it behind me as the Steelers move on to Week 10 next week against the Lions. Back to watching from my couch and giving my own knee jerk reactions next week. CAN’T WAIT!!!!!