In three games of the 2013 season, the Steelers have given the ball away a total of 9 times. Five of those 9 came Sunday night, as the team limped to an ugly 40-23 loss to the Bears to drop to 0-3.
“We need to take better care of the football, I am not going to characterize it in any way other than that,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said of the giveaways.
The other ugly stat is the Steelers have no takeaways of their own, and they really could have used one on Sunday night vs Jay Cutler and Chicago.
The Steelers fell behind 17-0 before the end of the first quarter, with one giveaway, a Ben Roethlisberger fumble, giving Chicago excellent field position after going up 3-0.
Matt Forte made it 10-0, and then he ripped off a long run that lead to a Michael Bush TD on fourth-and-goal from the 1/2 inch line to make it 17-0.
The last time the Steelers trailed 17-0 after the first quarter was September 26th 1999 in an ugly 29-10 home loss to the Seahawks.
Sunday night the team actually did some things good, as they got close in the fourth quarter, cutting the 17-point deficit to four at 27-23, but that’s when the defense fell apart.
Cutler made a couple huge throws, the first to Brandon Marshall to get them in scoring distance, and the other an amazing throw and catch for a score to Earl Bennett to make it 34-23 with 5:48 to play.
As if the Bears needed to put a nail in the coffin, they did when Julius Peppers picked up a Roethlisberger fumble and returned for 42 yards for the game’s final score at 40-23.
On the night Roethlisberger went 26-for-41 for 406 yards with two TD’s to Antonio Brown but lost two fumbles and threw two picks.
On the other side, Cutler was 20-for-30 for 159 yards and the key TD to Bennett that put the game away with about five minutes left.
The Steelers got a huge night from number one wide out Brown, as he hauled in nine passes for 196 yards with two TD’s.
There was no blowup with Todd Haley this week, but the fans want answers, and it seems it falls on Haley, but it shouldn’t this week as it was the players that gave the ball away five times.
“We won’t fold, this isn’t a folding type group,” WR Jericho Cotchery said. “We’re going to keep grinding. We’re going to get this turned around”
The Steelers outgained the Bears 459 to 258, and the Steelers put up 7.1 yards per play, but the team is finding out fast that a -9 in the turnover category will kill you every time.
It’s a long road game for the Steelers this next week, as they will work at home and then travel to London to play the 0-3 Vikings.
“It’s business as usual,” Tomlin said of the trip. “That’s the approach we need to take, we have a lot of work to do obviously. So that is the approach we will take, we’ll deal with London when we get there.”
For now, they will have to deal with looking at the bottom of the AFC North standings as they are the only team in the division without a win.
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Dave B.
September 23, 2013 at 5:45 am
As bad as it pains me to say , stick a fork in the 2013 Steelers , they are officially done . This is going to be one very long season .
Bob
September 23, 2013 at 8:55 am
It is going to be bad for years to come unless we get rid of Tomlin. The Rooney rule hiring experiment is a failure. End it and fire the bum!
Marsha
September 23, 2013 at 9:04 am
Looks like the guys are out there to make sure they get rid of Haley and Tomlin. Think they should be looking in a mirror. How sloppy can you get and still get paid big bucks for it? Think they should let the back-up quarter back on the field, couldn’t get much worse than what we saw last night.
Ben never puts a fist to his chest to take the blame, just a shake of the head when receivers aren’t short enough, long enough or on the wrong side of his passes, not to mention no one there to recover his drops. WHO REALLY IS TO BLAME?
Long season we can’t even imagine.
George H
September 23, 2013 at 12:15 pm
Ben is the first to put blame on himself. He never places blame on anybody and constantly gives the o-line a free pass even though that unit is getting him killed and making him rush his throws
Ron the Worm
September 23, 2013 at 5:29 pm
The product they are putting on the field is crap. I have been a die hard fan since I was a kid and this is one of the worst situations I can remember. Seems like Haley is a cancer to the team. Recent draft picks haven’t panned out. The O-line is as bad as I have ever seen it. Leadership seems to be lacking within the team. Can deal with hard fought losses all season long, but to give the game away like they did against Bears is uncharacteristic and should be unacceptable to the team, owners, coaches and fans. Time for at least a minor shake up.
Bob
September 23, 2013 at 8:53 am
Tomlin has to go! He was hired for no other reason but to show the Rooney rule works. Well look at the mess we are in hiring someone just because he is a minority. Fire the BUM!
Stanley
September 23, 2013 at 11:53 am
Bob that is the most asinine, cowardly, dumb@$$ comment in the history of Dumb@$$ comments! The Rooney’s hired him cause he was the best man for the job. Do your research before you talk out of your rear. Now back to football to me Colbert’s daft picks of late haven’t panned out. It show by lack of depth on the team. Maybe it is time for a new GM.
George H
September 23, 2013 at 12:26 pm
Thanks Stan for setting Bob straight. Tomlin is still a good coach, but obviously he still has his flaws. Discipline has to improve and it would be nice to see him get in some players faces and go off on them. There has to be a level of owning your role on the team and a lot of the players simply arent living up to the lofty expectations.
The problem is that this team doesnt have enough talent on both sides of the ball. Brown had a fantastic game and really stepped up big after his altercation with Haley last week, but the rest of the WR core has to step up now. When the Steelers were at their best offensively, they had a speedster on the outside, a physical man in the middle of the field, and a strong route runner around the field. This years Steelers only have a bunch of route runners in the mold of Antonio Brown and it shows with their lack of stretching the field and making the physical plays across the middle. Of course all of this is a mute point unless Ben can get some protection. Adams and Foster were abused all night. DeCastro is starting to show signs of some positive life and obviously having Miller back will help get Ben more protection and a safety blanket.
Defensively, the team has to get more pressure and hopefully the turnovers will come. The past few seasons we had terrible turnover rates because we simply werent getting to the QB. Woodley looks like he might be putting it together finally and I really am hopeful of Jarvis developing, however how often do we see wild passes that look like they could be picked but instead the db goes for the big hit. Usually the culprit here is Clark, hes a great player, but he needs to keep his eyes up and try to make a play on the ball instead of the wr.
OK my rant is over
Ron the Worm
September 23, 2013 at 5:17 pm
I agree with the draft comments. Too many wasted picks recently: Adams, Worilds, Spence, Hayward, etc.