Steelers vs. Bears: 5 Surprises in Sunday’s Loss

The Steelers walked into Soldier Field expecting to steady their season, but instead left stunned by a 31-28 defeat to the Chicago Bears. What looked like a promising afternoon — highlighted by Mason Rudolph’s sharp first-half rhythm and T.J. Watt’s defensive heroics — unraveled in the second half as Caleb Williams and the Bears seized momentum.

Pittsburgh’s offense sputtered after halftime, and Chicago’s rookies delivered clutch plays that flipped the script.

The result wasn’t just another mark in the loss column; it was a game full of surprises that exposed both the Steelers’ potential and their vulnerabilities.

Aaron Rodgers ruled out

In what was called a “game time decision” the Pittsburgh Steelers ruled Aaron Rodgers out of Sunday’s game only hours before game time, giving the start to backup quarterback Mason Rudolph.

Interestingly enough Rodgers wasn’t listed with the inactives on Sunday either, nor was he denoted as the team’s emergency third quarterback. Despite that, he would be sidelined and not take a snap, ceding way for Rudolph for would complete 77.4% of his passes for 171 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

Rudolph’s performance wouldn’t be good enough for the win, but it was odd enough in other contexts…

Steelers win time of possession

The other context is that the Steelers did a bunch of things well offensively, but not well enough.

In a rare feat for this season, they won the time of possession battle 33:09 to 26:51. They’d also run more plays (69 to 61) to outgain the Bears with 345 yards to Chicago’s 328 and secured more first downs (22 to 19).

The Steelers were also a perfect 3-for-3 in the red zone on Sunday but went 1-3 on fourth down and also turned the ball over twice, which ultimately led to their demise.

Defense gives up 30 – again

The Bears’ 31 points marks the fifth time that the Pittsburgh Steelers had given up 30 or more points this season. They previously yielded 35 to the Green Bay Packers, 33 to the Cincinnati Bengals, 32 to the New York Jets, and 31 to the Seattle Seahawks.

The Steelers had only give up more than 30 points twice last season (Bengals and Baltimore Ravens) and once in 2023 (Buffalo Bills) though, they had given up exactly 30 three other times that season too.

Defensive Coordinator Teryl Austin’s defense is currently ranked 28th in yards allowed, 20th in points allowed and are dead last in passing yards.

Steelers shut out in the third quarter

After going into halftime with a 21-17 lead, the Steelers received the ball to start the third quarter: and the offense went flat.

In the third quarter Pittsburgh ran one drive of six plays for 11 yards, a three-play drive for 7 yards, and another three-play series that netted a negative 6 yards as they punted twice and lost a fumble from a Montez Sweat strip sack of Mason Rudolph.

In total, that’s 12 plays for 12 yards, which is almost impossible to imagine given the other offensive metrics cited earlier in this article.

Punting at the end

The Steelers received the ball with 4:37 remaining in the game and down three points, getting the ball near midfield but failing to convert following an illegal formation penalty that wiped out a Rudolph first down gain on a 22 yard scramble. The next play was an incomplete pass.

What followed was mindboggling. Rather than go for it on 4th-and-9, head coach Mike Tomlin opted to punt, which appeared to be a fool’s errand. A poor 33-yard Corliss Waitman punt further exacerbated that Tomlin might be living in his fears, as the defense was unable to stop much of anything Chicago’s offense was doing all afternoon.

However, it somehow worked in the Steelers favor, as they got the ball back by forcing a three-and-out.