CHICAGO (670 The Score) — The Bears held off the Steelers for a 31-28 victory Sunday at Soldier Field, earning their fourth straight win and their eighth in the past nine games.
Here are the observations from another victorious Sunday for the Bears along the lakefront.
Benefit of the doubt
Bears head coach Ben Johnson shared a message with his team early in this winning surge, and it still remains true: Don't apologize for winning games in the NFL.
The Bears haven't yet played a consistently inspiring brand of football in their eight victories. Sunday marked the team’s lone win against an opponent that currently holds a winning record, and it came against backup quarterback Mason Rudolph instead of starter Aaron Rodgers.
There are holes to poke in the NFC North-leading Bears’ 8-3 record this season, and their flaws have been evident.
Who cares? What matters most are the results, and they can’t be taken away.
The Bears are a first-place football team. If the postseason started this week, they would host the rival Packers at Soldier Field in the wild-card round.
The Bears need to get a lot better before they can start dreaming of a playoff run, but they deserve credit for what they've accomplished so far and the benefit of the doubt for what they can still achieve.
Johnson has the Bears winning football games while they work to improve. Just as important, every player in that locker room seems to understand that there’s more work to be done. Nobody seems satisfied.
The Bears' win Sunday was the latest one that featured some uneven play. Bears quarterback Caleb Williams threw for three touchdowns but also had a disastrous fumble in the end zone that led to a Steelers recovery and score. The offense posted 31 points but was also limited to just 328 yards while punting four times and committing two turnovers.
The Bears’ depleted defense was gashed at times but also came through with two stands on the Steelers’ final two drives.
The Bears held a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter that nearly disappeared. They flirted with disaster but held on.
Nothing is quite complete with these Bears, but that’s fine for now.
There’s reason to believe this Bears offense will continue to improve as it settles in. Williams will have more dominant days than Sunday. And once the defense regains injured players like cornerback Jaylon Johnson, nickelback Kyler Gordon and linebacker T.J. Edwards, there’s hope it can be a strength.
Johnson and his coaching staff are squeezing every ounce of potential out of this Bears team, and there's every reason to believe that will continue moving forward.
Just can’t happen
Now 28 games into his NFL career, Williams takes care of the football. He has 14 total turnovers and has thrown interceptions on just 1.1% of his career dropbacks in the NFL.
Early in the second quarter Sunday, Williams made the worst miscue of his young career when he fumbled in the end zone. It underscored his struggles with getting the ball out quickly.
With the Bears facing second-and-20 from their own 10-yard line, Williams dropped back shy of the goal line but didn’t immediately pull the trigger on a throw. He then committed a cardinal sin, continuing his dropback into the end zone. Steelers star defensive end T.J. Watt is a future Hall of Famer who can make a quarterback pay for that type of mistake. He did just that, registering a sack and forced fumbled that Pittsburgh fell on in the end zone for a touchdown.
Williams has to get the football out somewhere on that play, whether it's finding a target or just throwing it away. A decision needs to be made before drifting back into the end zone. The last resort is to go down and take the safety to surrender two points instead of six.
Williams knows all of that. He hung is head afterward and spoke of wanting that indecision back.
Williams did a good job of resetting himself after that mistake, throwing for two more touchdowns and pacing the Bears offense in a victorious effort.
Ozzy steps up
In training camp, the Bears hoped to see rookie Ozzy Trapilo emerge as their starting left tackle. By mid-August, he was out of the mix.
Trapilo struggled during training camp. He clearly wasn’t ready to be an NFL starter. On Sunday, he certainly looked the part.
With starting left tackle Theo Benedet (quad) unable to play Sunday, the Bears turned to Trapilo to protect Williams' blind side. He held his own against a tenacious Steelers defensive front.
Williams was sacked just once – on the play in the end zone that wasn’t really the fault of his protection – and the Bears averaged 4.0 per rushing attempt.
Trapilo stepped into the left tackle role and asserted himself well. That was a credit to the Bears’ coaching staff, including offensive line coach Dan Roushar, and course to Trapilo for putting in the work.
Extra points
--- That was peak November football weather – a little more than 50 degrees with the sun shining down over Soldier Field.
--- I can’t get enough of veteran cornerback Nahshon Wright's breakthrough season. His spectacular interception Sunday was his fifth of the season.
--- Kicker Cairo Santos’ work in the kickoff game made a difference for the Bears. He seems to have mastered the “dirty kicks,” as they’re called, striking low line drives that are difficult for the returner to corral.
--- Rookie tight end Colston Loveland is getting better with each game.
--- Bears defensive end Montez Sweat is playing at a Pro Bowl level once again. He has 7.5 sacks this season and has been dominant at times.
--- With all due respect to Rudolph, that game really could’ve used Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers for extra theater.
--- It was incredibly cool that J.J. Watt got to broadcast his brother, T.J., surpassing him in career sacks in the NFL.
--- These aren't the same old Bears.
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.