The Pittsburgh Steelers made plenty of mistakes in Week 12 against the Chicago Bears. That included turning the ball over twice. The first was an interception that came on their second offensive play of the game. The other was a costly strip sack in the 3rd quarter that snuffed out any momentum the Steelers’ offense was building. Bears pass rusher Montez Sweat beat Darnell Washington to get to Mason Rudolph on that play. Ben Roethlisberger questioned the Steelers’ plan to block Sweat on that play.
“I’m not blaming the quarterback for that…” Roethlisberger said Tuesday on his Footbahlin’ podcast. “Darnell Washington is blocking Sweat, probably their best pass rusher… You’re gonna put a tight end, who is a great blocking tight end; this is not against him. There’s a difference between run blocking, because we watched Darnell Washington earlier in the game, pull and absolutely destroy a guy.
“Guy left the game. There’s run blocking, there’s blocking downfield, and then there’s pass blocking, setting, and a guy that what he does for a living is pass [rush] moves. That’s asking a lot of a tight end.”
Washington has a rare size for a tight end. It would be easy to mistake him for an offensive lineman. He recently revealed that he’s actually 311 pounds, which might make him heavier than some of the Steelers’ linemen.
Also, Washington has proven himself to be a great blocker. As Roethlisberger highlights, Washington had already steamrolled one Bears defender on a play earlier in the game. Therefore, it isn’t insane for the Steelers to allow Washington to block an edge rusher one-on-one.
However, testing him against Sweat wasn’t wise. The Bears’ pass rusher was leading his team in sacks before Week 12 with 5.5. Then, he added two more against the Steelers. He’s a former first-round pick and an athletic freak. He ran a 4.41 40-yard dash at 260 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine in 2019. For reference, that’s only .09 seconds slower than Calvin Austin III, who weighed in at 170 pounds.
If there was anybody to be wary of on the Bears’ defensive line, it was Sweat. What’s even more frustrating is that he had already beaten Washington for a sack earlier in the game. Sweat’s first sack came with around 13 minutes left in the third quarter. Then, with around four minutes remaining in that same quarter, he beat Washington again.
That’s an error on the Steelers’ part. They should’ve at least had someone chip Sweat if they were going to let Washington block him. Yes, Washington is a unique player, but like Roethlisberger points out, he’s still a tight end.
The Bears proceeded to go down and score a touchdown after recovering that fumble. That proved to be too much for the Steelers to overcome. It’s also important to note that they were within Chris Boswell’s range before Sweat’s forced fumble. That was a pivotal moment, and hopefully, the Steelers will learn from it.
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