The Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense has been a roller coaster this year. It was awful to start the season, but recently, it’s strung together some better performances. That includes a much-improved performance against the Cincinnati Bengals, whose offense the Steelers couldn’t stop earlier in the year. However, Chris Simms doesn’t believe in the Steelers’ defensive turnaround, thinking that unit could be a problem again Sunday against the Chicago Bears.
“Their edge guys, I do feel like can contain Caleb [Williams] a little bit to a degree,” Simms said recently on his Unbuttoned podcast. “But this is still not a good defense in Pittsburgh. I want to make that clear.
“We all look at the score last week of the Bengals game and we forget it was 13-9 and the Bengals were driving. Then, they got a defensive touchdown that ended the football game. So, I’m not sitting here looking at it like, ‘The Steelers fixed all their woes there.’ I’m gonna go Bears here.”
The Bears have one of the NFL’s best offenses. It’s currently ranked fourth overall, averaging 373.8 yards per game. Also, they have the second-best rushing offense in the league, behind only the Buffalo Bills.
That could be where they hurt the Steelers. Pittsburgh’s run defense has been one of its biggest issues, and that includes last week. Chase Brown ran for 99 yards in Week 11, averaging 5.5 yards on 18 carries. The Bengals were able to run the ball effectively in both their matchups against the Steelers despite having one of the league’s worst ground games.
The Steelers’ run defense didn’t look great the week before that, either. The Los Angeles Chargers ran for over 100 yards against the Steelers. That included running back Kimani Vidal posting 95 yards. That was with the Chargers’ offensive line dealing with major injuries, too.
Therefore, it’s reasonable to wonder if the Bears are in for a big day running the ball. They’ve got two running backs who have played well this year. Veteran D’Andre Swift has 634 rushing yards, while rookie Kyle Monangai has 413 yards, with both averaging 4.7 yards per carry.
Also, Bears head coach Ben Johnson has a history of crafting solid run games. He helped the Detroit Lions form one of the best offenses in the league, and running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery were a big part of that. Now, he’s brought that success to Chicago.
We’ll see if that’s enough for the Bears to beat the Steelers. There’s always a chance that the Steelers’ defense covers up its weakness against the run by forcing turnovers. That’s what happened last week. Simms is correct that not all of the Steelers’ problems are fixed, but they’ve still managed to win games. That counts for something.
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