This week’s Steelers and Bears game features a matchup of surprising first-place teams. If you had polled around the NFL media and fanbases this summer, you likely wouldn’t have heard many predictions that Pittsburgh would be in first place this late in the season, and you’d have likely heard even less support for the Bears. With the Lions, Packers, and Vikings making playoff runs last season, there was cautious optimism at best for the Bears. Chicago had managed to hire away offensive guru Ben Johnson from rival Detroit this offseason, but there were still plenty of questions about their young quarterback.
How will the Steelers fare against the upstart Bears? Can Pittsburgh stack another win to keep the Ravens at bay and maintain their division lead?
Let’s dive in.
What to expect from the Bears’ offense
Nov 16, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) throws downfield during the first quarter against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
Nov 16, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) throws downfield during the first quarter against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
Rushing YPG: 146.6 (2nd)
Passing YPG: 227.2 (13th)
PPG: 25.8 (8th)
RB: What a difference a year makes.
In 2024, the Bears went 5-12 and finished with the NFL’s 28th-ranked scoring offense.
Now, they’re 7-3, leading the NFC North, and putting a top-10 offense on the field.
The big change this offseason, of course, was Chicago hiring former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson as its head coach. Johnson was already seen as one of the most brilliant offensive minds in football, but his time with the Bears thus far has shown he has the leadership qualities to turn one of the NFL’s most struggling franchises into a possible contender.
As you could probably expect, Johnson’s Bears offense has plenty of similarities to the one he ran in Detroit. Chicago loves its bunch sets, condensed formations, and under-center dropbacks. It’s built around a strong run game, with the league’s third-highest play-action rate (31.3%) forming the foundation for the passing game.
The central on-field figure in the Bears’ transformation this season is second-year quarterback Caleb Williams, the first-overall pick in 2024 who has become a polarizing figure among NFL fans.
Williams had a bumpy rookie season, to put it nicely, although his surroundings – including a midseason firing of his head coach – didn’t help things (There’s an entire rabbit hole here if you’re interested).
Under Ben Johnson, the inconsistencies and bad habits that plagued Williams as a rookie haven’t gone away completely, but he looks more comfortable in structure as a whole. There was a raging NFL Twitter debate earlier in November around this exact topic, regarding if Williams should’ve hung in the pocket against the Giants and made this throw much earlier than he did:
Ultimately, the play highlighted some of the greatest strengths and weaknesses of Williams’ game – even though, like most young passer,s he can be a little quick to rely on his escapability and athleticism, those are the same talents that can lead to the sort of plays that separate good quarterbacks from great ones.
I can’t understate just how slippery Williams is in the pocket. The Bears have the longest time to throw in the NFL by a comical margin (Chicago’s 3.3 seconds is 0.29 more than the second-place Eagles), and yet the team is tied for the fifth-fewest sacks given up this year with just 16. Some of that is surprisingly good offensive line play (more on that later), but also Williams’ uncanny ability to avoid tackles.
Even though Williams doesn’t operate the Ben Johnson offense as well as Jared Goff did in Detroit, his athleticism also allows him to succeed more when plays break down. And as a passer, I’d put Williams up for consideration as the strongest arm in the league.
He can uncork absolute lasers that act as downfield handoffs with their velocity and accuracy. The latter, accuracy, continues to be a mild concern, looking especially spotty under pressure last week against the Vikings. But when Williams is in rhythm, he can sling it:
Williams’ arm and growing mental game as a passer is a treat to watch in structure, as well. The bread and butter of the Chicago passing game is Williams ripping a ball to a deep dig route off of play action.
It helps that Williams has a good group of pass catchers this year. D.J. Moore remains inconsistent but a talented playmaker, while Rome Odunze, another 2024 first-rounder, has really stepped up his game in Year 2 as a workhorse receiver.
Two rookies, receiver Luther Burden III and tight end Colston Loveland, have also slowly begun to emerge as the season has gone on. The latter was the Bears’ first-round pick in 2025 – a tight end built for the modern passing game with excellent yards after catch ability.
It’s worth noting the Bears still have Cole Kmet as well, another solid tight end in the passing game and a good blocker.
Helping out the pass game are Ben Johnson’s concepts. The Bears have the highest average target separation in the NFL at 3.8 yards. It’s a statistic that can be easily misrepresented as receivers getting open through route-running (which does apply to a certain extent) – but it largely points to schemed-open targets making Williams’ life easier.
But where Johnson has been on fire the most lately is in the run game.
D’Andre Swift is not the most popular name in film junkie circles, but he’s been running hard in recent weeks. The Bears’ outside zone-based ground attack leads the league in 10-plus-yard runs with a whopping 46 this year. Swift’s rookie backup, Kyle Monangai, runs like a ball of energy and has become a rock-solid second option.
But the biggest stars, in my opinion, have been the play design and run blocking.
Chicago notably added veteran guard Joe Thuney, a former Kansas City Chief, this offseason, while young right tackle Darnell Wright has developed into a plus starter.
As a unit, the Bears’ O-line has been above-average this season, and that has played a massive role in the offense’s renaissance under Johnson.
However, as of Thursday, a number of O-line starters were on the injury report. Wright, center Drew Dalman, and left tackle Theo Benedet were all questionable with injuries. Thuney didn’t participate, but it was just a standard veteran rest day.
But Johnson schemes up a lot of big runs as well, especially making good use of motion to throw defenses off.
Swift has a bad habit of trying to bounce everything outside, but it still works in a lot of cases.
And as a final note, Johnson loves to throw in the odd trick play, just like his time with the Lions. The Pittsburgh defense will need to be prepared for anything on Sunday.
The Bears aren’t quite as fearsome as their overall record may represent, but this is still undoubtedly one of the better offenses in the league. It’ll be a test.
To me, the keys to victory lie in discipline – both at the line of scrimmage and in coverage. Slowing down the big-play-heavy Chicago ground game is the first step, but so is pressuring Caleb Williams in the pocket. The Pittsburgh D-line is going to have a tough time getting sacks, but keeping Williams contained and affecting his accuracy would go a long way.
And in the passing game, the Bears’ play-action concepts and middle of the field routes are going to stress the gaps in between zones, especially for the linebackers and safeties.
Forcing a turnover or two would be a welcome surprise as well. The Bears are tied for the second-least giveaways in the NFL this year with six, and they lead the NFL by a wide margin with a +16 turnover differential. Both Pittsburgh and Chicago place a big emphasis on winning the turnover battle, which should play a big role in Sunday’s game.
The Steeler defense has upped its game in recent weeks, and the Bears can still look like a team that’s actively building something rather than having truly arrived. It should be a good matchup in Week 12, as this isn’t the same sorry Bears offense of recent memory.
What to expect from the Bears’ defense
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - NOVEMBER 16: Kevin Byard #31 of the Chicago Bears runs with the ball on his interception against the Minnesota Vikings in the second quarter at U.S. Bank Stadium on November 16, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - NOVEMBER 16: Kevin Byard #31 of the Chicago Bears runs with the ball on his interception against the Minnesota Vikings in the second quarter at U.S. Bank Stadium on November 16, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
Getty Images
Rushing YPG Allowed: 133.3 (25th)
Passing YPG Allowed: 231.3 (23rd)
PPG Allowed: 26.4 (26th)
RP: While the Bears are much better offensively than they were a year ago, the same can’t be said about their defense. The Bears unit wasn’t exactly good in 2024, but they did manage to finish 13th in scoring allowed despite giving up a ton of yards. That’s not the case this year.
The Bears are lacking star power on that side of the ball, and Chicago has had to weather a litany of injuries to some of the more talented defenders they do have:
Pro Bowl cornerback Jaylon Johnson has played in only one game this year while dealing with not one, but two groin injuries. He’s making a push to return, but might need another week.
Kyler Gordon, the Bears’ nickel corner, has also been banged up, missing the first four games of the year with a hamstring injury, but calf and groin injuries have caused him to miss the past four games as well.
Free agent signee Dayo Odeyingbo tore his Achilles and is out for the year.
Linebacker T.J. Edwards has missed the previous two games with a hand and hamstring injuries and has logged two DNPs in practice this week.
Linebackers Tremaine Edmunds (groin), and Noah Sewell (elbow) have registered two DNPs as well this week. Sewell has been the primary replacement while Edwards has been out, and the Bears might now be without their top three linebackers.
Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson (hip/calf) has been a limited participant in practices this week.
Those injuries, especially to the secondary, have greatly impacted the types of coverages the Bears were expected to run this year.
Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen has been around the league a long time. His defense typically features a lot of man coverage – his 2024 Saints team ran man coverage at the fifth-highest rate. Early in his career, his defenses were more blitz-heavy, but that started to change around 2022 as Allen began to embrace the more modern approach of disguising rushers and coverage. In recent years, his defenses have garnered a reputation of being something I call “kitchen sink looks,” meaning he’s constantly changing the number of players he’s presenting up front as possible pass rushers, and having players from unexpected positions dropping into coverage. If it’s available to him, he’ll throw it at the offense and see what sticks.
Here are the Manning brothers talking about how perplexing these types of looks can be for a quarterback.
And while those tenets mostly remain true of Allen’s defense, they’ve had to run a lot less man than they may have initially been anticipating.
Attacking the Bears – regardless of whether it’s Aaron Rodgers or Mason Rudolph under center – begins on the ground with the running game. Chicago has the seventh-highest rate of light boxes (52.4%) and similarly allowed the seventh-most runs of 10+ yards (38). With the health of the Bears’ linebackers in question, what should already have been a favorable matchup for the Steelers just got even juicier. Especially considering the heavy personnel packages the Steelers deploy.
Backs of all shapes, sizes, and varying quality of O-lines have found success creating explosive runs on the Bears.
Chicago’s much-injured secondary has predictably struggled as well, surrendering a ton of yards while also allowing the fourth-most passing touchdowns (21) in the league.
They don’t get much help from the Bears’ pass rush, which has generated the fourth-fewest pressures (105) this season and ranks 20th in sack rate (6.0%). Opposing quarterbacks are getting 2.84 seconds on average to throw the ball, which ranks 19th in the NFL. Defensive end Montez Sweat (6.0) and defensive tackle Gervon Dexter Sr. (5.0) are the Bears’ top sack getters. Versatile defensive back — and All-World yapper— C.J. Gardner Johnson (3.0) is third for Chicago, despite starting the season in Houston.
That all goes to say, if a safety/nickel is third on your team in sacks, there should be yards and touchdowns to be had.
But while the Bears’ defense does appear to be vulnerable in many areas, the Steelers can’t afford to be careless with the ball. Despite their many flaws, Chicago leads the league in total takeaways (22) and interceptions (15). Twelfth-year veteran safety Kevin Byard leads the NFL in interceptions (5). Cornerback Nahshon Wright (4) and linebacker Tremaine Edmunds (4) aren’t far behind.
If the Steelers can protect the ball and pick their spots, they should match up well against this Bears unit. However, if they turn the ball over, the Bears’ offense can certainly capitalize. This should be a tight game, but one you’d hope the Steelers and their veteran roster can win.