If snow and a muddy field ever meant Bear weather, it doesn’t anymore, not after the Pittsburgh Steelers ran over them Sunday using a Bus with old snow tires.
“My mudder’s a mudder, so that makes me a mudder,” 33-year-old Jerome Bettis shouted at teammate Hines Ward after the Steelers’ decisive 21-9 victory.
Bettis scored two touchdowns and Ward one, all on plays against a No. 1-ranked defense built on speed and quickness but stifled in conditions familiar to Chicago this time of year. It gave sudden pause to the idea the Bears can flourish at home if they reach the playoffs.
Receiver Ward ran over substitute safety Mike Green in a common theme on a screen pass for the first score. Bettis scored the next two. On the second, he knocked over Green and then Brian Urlacher at the goal line.
Bears coach Lovie Smith likes to say his team gets off the bus running the ball. The Steelers get on the bus to run the ball.
Bettis, the Steelers’ 255-pound change-of-pace sub for quick little starter Willie Parker, ran for 101 yards, including an unusual 39-yard burst. He had gained only 186 yards all season.
“We wanted to run it,” Steelers coach Bill Cowher said. “The Good Lord helped us with their pass rush, let’s face it. When the snow came, it negated the speed.”
The running came before the weather, so the Bears have only a partial excuse. During their three-game losing streak to Baltimore, Indianapolis and Cincinnati, the Steelers had not run to their satisfaction. So they vowed all week to run right at the Bears, regardless of field conditions.
A 45-yard screen pass to Parker got it started, and screens kept the Bears’ pass rush honest the rest of the day.
“It got them on their heels,” center Jeff Hartings said. “They’re a penetrating team, so we hoped we’d get something out of screens and traps.”
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Leading 7-0, the Steelers started to regain lost confidence. At 14-3, they felt almost relaxed.
“That’s how you want to start off, especially knowing the Chicago offense was kind of . . . wasn’t doing all too well,” Ward said.
The Bears’ defense has made a living getting after the quarterback and has enjoyed remarkable success without benefit of comfortable leads. So the Steelers wanted to use the Bears’ strength against them.
“What happens is when [they] can’t get after the quarterback, it puts more pressure on them,” Bettis said. “They have a really good front four and pass rush.
“But when you run the football at them, it makes it a little harder [for them] to get around guys. You try to negate their speed with a power game. We were able to get on top, and that enabled us to dictate how we attacked. We were able to consistently pound on them, and that made a difference in the second half.”
Unsure footing always favors the offense.
“Because I know where I’m going and they don’t,” Bettis said. “I can get a head of steam going, and they have to play off blocks and it’s hard for them to get leverage. I’m a one-step-and-go kind of guy, so the field really played in my favor.”
The Bears’ defensive line averages 280 pounds, including 260-pound defensive ends Alex Brown and Adewale Ogunleye. The Steelers’ offensive line averages 317. Slippery conditions exacerbate the difference, but Steelers rookie left tackle Trai Essex didn’t think weather was the only factor.
“Alex Brown still came off hard every play,” said Essex, a 324-pounder from Northwestern. “In snow, the defense can’t come off the ball as fast, but our defense had to play in snow too. [The Bears] tried to do things like shifting because they felt they couldn’t hold up in the defensive line.”
The Bears must play Sunday night at Soldier Field against Atlanta and then at Green Bay on Christmas in a 4 p.m. start. Neither game promises ideal field conditions.
The Falcons go into Monday’s night’s game against New Orleans with the No. 1 rushing team in the league, so they will take heart watching the Pittsburgh tape.
“I think we saw something in the Bears’ defense that we thought we could run the ball,” quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said. “Everyone knows that Steeler football is running the ball.”
That’s supposed to be the definition of Bears football too. That and stopping the run. But not in Steelers weather.
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