Following each game in the 2025 Steelers season, I will once again be giving you my ten takes. These aren’t going to be hot takes that are meant to shock the world. This will be instant reactions to the game written while still in that period, just following the game when the emotions are high, and the ideas are fresh. Included will be thoughts, observations, queries, and reasons that caused me to yell at the television. Here are 10 takes from the Steelers’ Week 12 loss to the Chicago Bears.
Regular Season Week 12 vs Chicago Bears
1. Why? – I understand this is a tight-end-heavy offense. And it has worked quite well often for this team this season. But in certain situations, it is wrong to use multiple tight ends. Particularly late in the game with your two-minute offense on the field. I don’t understand it. The skill players should be DK Metcalf, Calvin Austin, Roman Wilson, Pat Freiermuth, and either Kenneth Gainwell or Jaylen Warren. Jonnu Smith should not be on the field in this situation. I can’t produce any good reason why he is on the field when you’re trying to make plays to get chunk yards in a condensed amount of time.
2. Rough One for Rudolph – Veteran backup Mason Rudolph was asked to go on the road and win. It looked like the same offense as far as play calls. Lots of short stuff, screens, and running the rock. The Mike Tomlin template. They did take four shots downfield, more than normal. The deep ball is usually a strong aspect of Rudolph’s game. Today, those throws were not good. The first was underthrown, and Metcalf did a poor job of preventing the interception. The second was underthrown and a duck, but Wilson prevented the interception. The third to Austin was another duck, but the call was pass interference. The fourth also wobbled badly and ended up uncatchable out of bounds.
I don’t know what caused his issues with deep balls, but it was consistent.
3. The One Guy to Block – Ideally, when you face a good pass rusher, you want to have offensive linemen blocking him. Not Pittsburgh. The lone edge rushing threat of the Bears was Montez Sweat. He led them in sacks, quarterback hits, and tackles for a loss coming into the game. Today, he had both Chicago sacks, half of their quarterback hits, and all three of his tackles were for a loss.
His sacks came when Darnell Washington blocked him. He is a good blocker…for a tight end. However, he should not be blocking the best pass rusher. On another play, they had Gainwell blocking him, and it nearly resulted in another sack. Was this part of the game plan? Not blocking their best with your best?
4. Bag Left Empty – The Steelers’ second drive started at the five after a muffed kickoff return. Arthur Smith had his best drive of the year. He used a jet sweep to Metcalf. He used Gainwell on a wildcat run. Smith used three screens to three different receivers on three consecutive plays. He then used a swing pass (ruled a run due to backward pass) to Metcalf for the touchdown. It was a beautiful drive. Maybe best of the year.
After that, the bag was empty except for a pair of Jonnu Smith jet sweeps that were left over. They looked so good for seven minutes and 58 seconds and were ineffective for the rest of the time. The best play in the third quarter was a pass interference play. Sad to see week after week.
5. I Apologize, Kenneth – After Week 2, I was quick to judge. The quote from that week’s takes said, “I have seen enough of the Kenneth Gainwell experiment.”
I was wrong.
He has become a valuable part of the offense. Don’t get me wrong. I want to see more Warren, especially on third down. However, Gainwell has earned himself a good-sized role in the offense. Over the last two weeks, he has 227 yards of offense on 33 touches. That is 34 percent of the yards gained by the entire offense. Compared to the rest of the offense, he is damn near a star. I just wanted to show appreciation and admit my mistake.
6. The Curse of Cairo – Overall, the Steelers’ kick return has been solid this year. And that is with a rotation of five different returners. They haven’t broken the big one, and other than the early Kaleb Johnson mistake, they were good.
Today, Cairo Santos had their number. A short, knuckling kick led to the muff by Gainwell and the ball at the five-yard line. Later in the game, Santos kicked another short into the landing zone that bounced into the endzone, putting the ball at the 20. The starting points after kickoffs were the 21, 5, 20, 25, and 27. Hidden yards that made the field longer for an offense that was sputtering.
7. Some Praise for Pat – In the past, I’ve mentioned the professionalism of Freiermuth for maintaining the status quo despite his minimized usage in the offense. In recent weeks, I have noticed improvement in his blocking as well. There is a benefit with Washington doing more of the inline blocking, as it allows Freiermuth to block more in space, where he has been particularly good. Today, he had a nice block on the Metcalf touchdown. He had another for Gainwell on the fake tush push. He also had another on the Gainwell touchdown called by but Metcalf holding.
Friermuth has not only handled his role with grace but has also worked to improve as a blocker. True professional.
8. Two Game Changers – That is a term that is usually positive. These are negatives. The first was the flag on the punt for holding. It was called on Ben Skowronek. That is kind of unusual that a gunner on punt coverage would be called for holding. Skowronek does like to attempt to draw penalties against opponents. Maybe that was part of it, but pure speculation. Instead of putting the Bears at the ten-yard line, they got the ball at the forty after a re-kick. They cited an illegal formation penalty. They pointed out Troy Fautanu, but the penalty is on either Austin or Gainwell, one of whom needed to be on the line of scrimmage.
It cost the team a 22-yard gain that would have put them at midfield before the two-minute warning. Costly penalties.
9. Red Zone Routes – I can’t help but be a bit jealous watching pass catchers run routes that get them open. Chicago ran two really nice routes. First was a whip route by D.J. Moore for their first touchdown. The second was an angle route by Colston Loveland. Both routes are designed to get the defender moving in one direction before quickly moving the other. Both routes are rarely run in the Steelers’ offense. In fact, Austin did run a whip route in the fourth quarter. Do you know what happened? A 19-yard gain. I’m begging this team to incorporate more of these.
10. Consistently Inconsistent – The defense was supposed to be the stronger group. Highly paid, veteran-laden. This is the fifth time the opponent has scored over thirty points. This is the third time they have lost despite scoring at least 25 points. The Bears decided to run or pass based on which Steelers linebackers were on the field. The inconsistency from week to week is the only consistent thing about the defense.
With six games left, it’s now or never to find that groove.
Related Items:Arthur Smith, Ben Skowronek, Cairo Santos, Calvin Austin, Chicago Bears, Colston Loveland, D.J. Moore, Darnell Washington, DK Metcalf, Jaylen Warren, Jonnu Smith, Kaleb Johnson, Kenneth Gainwell, Mason Rudolph, Mike Tomlin, Montez Sweat, Pat Freiermuth, Roman Wilson, Trendnig, Troy Fautanu
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