Larger text
Smaller text
Print
E-mail
Complete game comes at ideal time
Still, the Steelers will take Sunday's 21-9 handling of the Chicago Bears, especially coach Bill Cowher.
"It was the most important game of the year right now," Cowher said.
Given the desperate circumstances and the caliber of competition, Sunday's performance at Heinz Field might also have been the Steelers' most complete game of the season.
"Without looking at the numbers and watching the film, you'd like to think so," quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said. "Obviously, there were a couple of things here and there, small things that you'd like to clean up. But, overall, I'd grade our offense with an 'A.'"
Linebacker Joey Porter was willing to declare the effort against the Bears the complete game the Steelers had been waiting for without any such further review.
"That was the most compete game we played this year, playing consistent across the board," Porter said. "We finally hit on all cylinders."
The offense piled up a season-high 37:19 in time of possession, despite the four fumbles, all of which were recovered by the Steelers.
"I told coach Cowher, 'Listen, give the running backs a little bit of slack. It's wet out there and it's muddy and it's hard for them to hold onto the ball,'" Roethlisberger said.
Running backs Willie Parker and Verron Haynes and wide receivers Cedrick Wilson and Antwaan Randle El put the ball on the ground in the snowy conditions.
Parker, Haynes, Wilson and tight end heath Miller were credited with fumble recoveries.
The defense failed to take the ball away but limited Chicago to just three third-down conversions in 13 attempts for a season-low 23-percent success rate.
"I think the weather kind of put a damper on our performance on defense in the second half," free safety Chris Hope said. "Hopefully, it's something that we can build on."
The special teams, which had been called out publicly last week by Cowher after allowing a 94-yard kickoff return against Cincinnati, responded by allowing the Bears an average of just 13.5 yards on four kickoff returns and forcing Chicago possession to begin inside the 20-yard line following four of Chris Gardocki's six punts.
"We played aggressively,' said wide receiver Sean Morey, one of the captains on special teams. "We didn't want to sit back and try to read returns and think about it. We wanted to pin our ears back and cover fast and aggressive.
"I think we sort of re-established an identity, that that's what we do when we cover."
