The Sports Monitor

Some passing thoughts after the Steelers' 17-14 loss to the Bears on Sunday: Against a better defense than he faced last week when throwing four interceptions, Bears quarterback Jay Cutler found his rhythm against the Steelers. Cutler was 27-of-38 for 236 yards and a 104.7 rating. Cutler was sacked just once. Yeah, just once. Ben Roethlisberger's rating was 80.8. Rashard Mendenhall's 39-yard run was nice, but his other two carries totaled zero yards. Steelers receiver Mike Wallace was singled out on the post-game radio broadcast. Wallace's 10-yard catch was nice, but they wanted to see him fight for the first down. What happens if Wallace would have fumbled trying to get those extra 2 yards? My guess is he would be been questioned for not running out of bounds. Roethlisberger was sacked twice, which is good, but that fourth-quarter sack on third-and-8 from the Bears' 10 hurt -- especially when Jeff Reed missed the field goal on the next play. I'd expect Reed to ...

The Pittsburgh Steelers game against the Chicago Bears will feature both teams trying to rally around their missing defensive stars. The Steelers will be without Troy Polamalu, who will be out the next three to six weeks with a knee ligament strain. The Bears will be without linebacker and face-of-the-franchise Brian Urlacher, who will miss the rest of the season with a dislocated wrist. Both teams struggled to run the ball in Week 1, too. Bears starter Matt Forte managed just 2.2 yards per carry in Sunday's loss to the Packers. That he still managed 25 carries was amazing. We all know about Willie Parker's game against the Titans. At quarterback, however, the teams couldn't be more opposite. Bears quarterback Jay Cutler threw four interceptions in his debut for his new team. The Steelers, of course, won on a field goal in overtime thanks to the clutch quarterback play of Ben Roethlisberger. Cutler finished 17-of-36 passing and had a quarterback rating of 44.6. Big Ben was ...