The Pittsburgh Steelers lost a heartbreaking game on the road to the Chicago Bears on Sunday. The final score was 31-28, and the offense never really seemed like a threat. The defense often struggled to get Chicago's offense off of the field. The Steelers dropped out of first place in the AFC North after the loss and the Baltimore Ravens' win, and the team is completely out of the playoffs as of now as their record fell to 6-5 on the 2025 season. The defense made some opportunistic plays throughout the game, but overall the group has to be better moving forward.
Alysa Rubin / Pittsburgh Steelers
Steelers' TJ Watt warms up before a road game against the Chicago Bears during the 2025 season.
The defense struggled overall. The Bears were able to put up 31 points and continued to move the ball down the field. Outside linebacker TJ Watt made a splash play in the end zone as he sacked Caleb Williams and forced him to fumble the football, and Nick Herbig recovered the ball for a touchdown.
Aside from Watt's big play, things did not go too well. He spoke to the media after the game, and he spoke about the defensive struggles while voicing some frustration with the group.
"They had a lot of second and longs where they got chunk plays that made it third and shorts that were converted or were converted from second and long." Watt said. "Same story man. Got to get off of the field."
Watt spoke about how the defense constantly had Chicago's offense behind the chains on second downs, but the Bears offense was often able to make plays to move the sticks. Pittsburgh allowed far too many conversions, which has been the case all season along. Watt was clearly frustrated about that, as that is something that is going to have to change if Pittsburgh wants to have any chance of getting back into the playoff picture.
Alysa Rubin / Pittsburgh Steelers
Steelers linebacker TJ Watt goes through warmups on the field prior to kickoff on Christmas Day in 2024 as Pittsburgh prepares for a highly anticipated holiday matchup.
The Bears were fairly efficient when it came to converting on third downs, and the group was also one for one on fourth down conversions. That tells the story of how the Pittsburgh defense continued to struggle getting the opposing offense off of the field, which has plagued that unit throughout the entire season.
Pittsburgh's offense did not do a great job of helping out the defense. Quarterback Mason Rudolph turned the ball over twice in the game, and the group also turned the ball over on downs in the first half instead of opting for a field goal to go up 10 points. Watt did not place any blame on the offense, as he was thoroughly dissapointed with the defense and the group's inability to consistently get pressure on Williams in critical situations.
Williams had one of the better games of his career. The second-year quarterback completed 19 passes for 235 yards and three scores, although he had a couple passes that were dropped by the defense. Pittsburgh failed to capitalize on some mistakes by Williams, and that is a big reason the team lost the game and fell out of the lead in the division.
David Dermer / AP Photo
Buffalo Bills superstar quarterback Josh Allen runs on the field during a home game.
Steelers In Serious Trouble With Daunting Schedule Remaining
The Steelers are going to have some trouble getting back into good playoff positioning as the team has to have one of the hardest remaining schedules in the NFL. Pittsburgh hosts the Buffalo Bills in Week 13, and the team also has two games left against Baltimore and a matchup with the Detroit Lions on the schedule. The franchise is going to have to pull off some upsets in order to sneak into the Wild Card or back into the lead in the division, and there is a realistic chance the team misses the postseason for the first time in two seasons.
What did you think of the defensive effort against Chicago? Let us know in the comments below!
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