FootballScores.Me

Despite the fact that they came out on two opposite ends of the winning spectrum in their Week One debuts, the Chicago Bears looked impressive even in a loss. It has a lot to do with that loss coming at the hands of the mighty Green Bay Packers, but it was a still a loss, and despite arguably even tougher opposition, the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers managed to squeak by the Tennessee Titans by a field goal in Overtime in what was easily one of the best seasoning opening games of the decade!

Both teams have key injuries to formerly top-ranking defensive personnel with the Steelers sorely missing the fierce and lead-by-example defensive standout Troy Polamalu, where as the Bears will be mourning the dearly departed captain and defensive anchor Brian Urlacher. Of the two, Urlacher is actually out for the entire season with Polamalu slated to return in about six weeks worst case scenario.

The Steelers defense didn’t take any time to show the world it was still just as good as last year, holding the mediocre passing attack, ferocious rushing attack Titans to just 10 total in-game points. The offense looked a bit off kilter, but things like this are to be expected when going up against a defense as high-quality as the Titans.

The Bears on the other hand looked quite solid on offense save for some very damaging, very dumb interceptions thrown by newly acquired QB Jay Cutler. The defense didn’t look quite up to snuff and won’t be helped with the season-ending loss of Brian Urlacher. While it doesn’t look as doom-or-gloom as it possibly  could, it certainly isn’t the way most Bears fans likely wanted to leave Week 1: without a win OR their starting defensive captain and anchor.

By all accounts, the Steelers at Bears game could be a dominant one in all areas for the Steelers. However, this IS the NFL and we all know that on Any Given Sunday, any given team can put up any type of game against any caliber opponent. The fact that it is in Chicago and these two are such intense rivals doesn’t help matters for the Steelers hoping to close the gap in terms of chances of winning the game.

Despite your opinions of the game, you have to admit it is one of the marquee matchups of the weekend, and one that many NFL fans alike will want to watch regardless of what else is on. You can’t base absolutely everything on Week 1 so to be fair, the Bears offense and defense for that matter, should be given at least one more shot at showing that they’re a contender in the tough NFC conference. The NFC North is equally as tough with the Bears competing against the Vikings and Packers primarily for first place, with the Lions probably bringing up the caboose unless something drastically changes this year.

The pick:

Pitt should be GIVING points in this game, yet they're getting them. All day, all day!