Sep 24, 2017 7 min read

CHICAGO – Given a chance to put some early distance between themselves and the rest of the AFC North just three weeks into the season, the Steelers went to Chicago and did what they have done here largely throughout their existence.

They lost.

On a day the team decided to stay in the tunnel rather than participate in the singing of the national anthem prior to the game, the Steelers were run off the field by the Chicago Bears, losing 23-17 in overtime at Soldier Field.

The loss dropped the Steelers to 2-1 in the division, keeping pace with Baltimore, which was whipped earlier in the day by Jacksonville, 44-7, in London. The two teams meet next Sunday in Baltimore and it appeared both got caught looking ahead to that matchup.

“You guys call this every year. And we say we’re not going to do it again and we do it again,” said frustrated guard David DeCastro. “We turn the ball over.

“I felt kind of flat, too, coming out. You’re trying to get motivated, trying to win the game. You make mistakes and it’s a tough feeling and you can’t get anything going. You saw what happened out there.”

DeCastro was referring to the Steelers losing a game to a team that, on paper, they should beat. Pittsburgh entered this game as a nine-point favorite by kickoff.

By the time the first half ended, the Steelers, who fell to 1-12 all-time in Chicago, had turned the ball over twice, had a field goal attempt blocked and were forced to return to the field in a bizarre series of events at the end of the first half.

It began with Pittsburgh’s decision to skip the singing of the national anthem before the game started. The Steelers met Saturday night at the team hotel and decided that in response to the league and its players being called out by President Donald Trump Friday in a speech in Alabama, they would not take the field during the anthem, instead staying in the tunnel.

Only left tackle Alejandro Villanueva, a former Army Ranger who served three tours in Afghanistan, could been seen, along with some coaches, standing at the edge of the tunnel opening.

“These are divisive times in the United States and it’s a shame,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. “We’re not politicians. We’re coaches and professional athletes. … To be quite honest, I didn’t appreciate our football team being dragged into politics this weekend.

“We came here to play a football game. That was our intention.”

That might have been the intention but they started slowly. And it ended up costing them in overtime, when Jordan Howard, who consistently gashed the Steelers throughout the game, broke free one last time for a 19-yard touchdown moments after backfield mate Tarik Cohen appeared to have ended it with a run of his own.

Cohen, a rookie, took the ball on the second play of overtime and raced for what appeared to be a 73-yard score around right end.

But officials ruled he had stepped out of bounds at the Pittsburgh 37 while cutting back along the sideline to avoid a tackle attempt by safety Mike Mitchell.

It only delayed the inevitable as Howard went for 18 yards on the next play and the game-winning score around left end to finish a day when the Bears rushed for 220 yards on 38 carries.

“Terrible,” said Mitchell describing the team’s run defense.

“You never want to go out like that,” said linebacker Vince Williams.

It was largely like that from start to finish. After Eli Rogers muffed Chicago’s first punt and the Bears recovered at the Pittsburgh 29, Howard scored on a 3-yard run for a 7-0 lead.

Ben Roethlisberger was sacked and fumbled on Pittsburgh’s second possession but Connor Barth missed a 47-yard field goal.

Roethlisberger, who threw for 235 yards, tossed a 7-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Brown to tie the score, 7-7, midway through the second quarter.

But Chicago answered with a sustained drive, mostly running, that ended with a Mike Glennon pass off play action to rookie tight end Adam Shaheen. Glennon completed just 15 of 22 passes for 101 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

“We knew what type of game they wanted to play,” said Steelers defensive end Cam Heyward. “To start the game off with 100 yards rushing by halftime; that’s just poor.”

Not as poor as what happened after that – from both teams.

Down 14-7, the Steelers got the ball back with 43 seconds remaining in the half and quickly moved to the Chicago 18 with six seconds remaining.

But Chris Boswell’s 35-yard field goal attempt was blocked by Sherrick McManis and grabbed out of the air by teammate Marcus Cooper.

Cooper raced down the field for an apparent easy score with no time on the clock but inexplicably slowed up just short of the goal line. Pittsburgh tight end Vance McDonald caught him inside the 1 and knocked the ball free before Cooper got into the end zone and punter Jordan Berry, who had served as the holder, dove at the loose ball and batted it illegally out of the end zone so the Bears could not recover it for a score.

“I was thinking that you can’t really bat the ball back out of the end zone but I wasn’t really sure what was going to happen,” said Berry.

Neither did game officials.

With no time remaining on the clock, some of the Bears and all the Steelers headed for their locker rooms. But referee Clete Blakeman said the play would be reviewed, even though it was not ruled a scoring play or turnover.

After the review, Blakeman announced the Bears would get the ball inside the 1 for an untimed down because Berry had illegally batted the ball.

Chicago trotted its offense onto the field and Pittsburgh’s defense had to rush back out of the locker room.

“They did explain the review, but I still lack a little clarity there,” said Tomlin. “I was told by an official the half was over. Then they went into review mode.

“I’m not questioning whether or not they did the appropriate thing; it was just tough communicating and understanding the process.”

Before they could snap the ball, the Bears were penalized for a false start and decided to instead kick a field goal for a 17-7 halftime lead.

The Steelers chipped away in the second half, taking advantage of a pair of Chicago turnovers to set up a 1-yard Le’Veon Bell touchdown run in the third quarter and a 32-yard Boswell field goal midway through the fourth quarter.

But neither team could generate enough offense to finish the game in regulation.

“We faced a lot of adversity and most of it was created by us,” admitted Tomlin. “In the first half, we turned the ball over, and when you’re minus two, plus a blocked kick, you’re probably fortunate to be down 10. We were.

“We allowed them to run the ball but we settled some of those things down, fought our way back and then weren’t able to finish the job.”

Odds and end zones

Brown caught 10 passes for 110 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown was the 51st receiving of his career, tying him with Lynn Swann for third most in team history. … After practicing Thursday and Friday, defensive end Stephon Tuitt was a surprise scratch for the Steelers. … Guard Ramon Foster left in the first half with a thumb injury, while safety Sean Davis suffered an ankle injury in the second half. Neither returned to the game.