Steelers' TJ Watt Gives Frustrated Statement About Defensive Struggles: 'Same Story Man'
The Pittsburgh Steelers lost a heartbreaking game on the road to the Chicago Bears on Sunday. The final score was 31-28, and the offense never really seemed like a threat. The defense often struggled to get Chicago's offense off of the field. The Steelers dropped out of first place in the AFC North after the loss and the Baltimore Ravens' win, and the team is completely out of the playoffs as of now as their record fell to 6-5 on the 2025 season. The defense made some opportunistic plays throughout the game, but overall the group has to be better moving forward.
The defense struggled overall. The Bears were able to put up 31 points and continued to move the ball down the field. Outside linebacker TJ Watt made a splash play in the end zone as he sacked Caleb Williams and forced him to fumble the football, and Nick Herbig recovered the ball for a touchdown.
Aside from Watt's big play, things did not go too well. He spoke to the media after the game, and he spoke about the defensive struggles while voicing some frustration with the group.
"They had a lot of second and longs where they got chunk plays that made it third and shorts that were converted or were converted from second and long." Watt said. "Same story man. Got to get off of the field."
Watt spoke about how the defense constantly had Chicago's offense behind the chains on second downs, but the Bears offense was often able to make plays to move the sticks. Pittsburgh allowed far too many conversions, which has been the case all season along. Watt was clearly frustrated about that, as that is something that is going to have to change if Pittsburgh wants to have any chance of getting back into the playoff picture.
The Bears were fairly efficient when it came to converting on third downs, and the group was also one for one on fourth down conversions. That tells the story of how the Pittsburgh defense continued to struggle getting the opposing offense off of the field, which has plagued that unit throughout the entire season.
Pittsburgh's offense did not do a great job of helping out the defense. Quarterback Mason Rudolph turned the ball over twice in the game, and the group also turned the ball over on downs in the first half instead of opting for a field goal to go up 10 points. Watt did not place any blame on the offense, as he was thoroughly dissapointed with the defense and the group's inability to consistently get pressure on Williams in critical situations.
Williams had one of the better games of his career. The second-year quarterback completed 19 passes for 235 yards and three scores, although he had a couple passes that were dropped by the defense. Pittsburgh failed to capitalize on some mistakes by Williams, and that is a big reason the team lost the game and fell out of the lead in the division.
Steelers In Serious Trouble With Daunting Schedule Remaining
The Steelers are going to have some trouble getting back into good playoff positioning as the team has to have one of the hardest remaining schedules in the NFL. Pittsburgh hosts the Buffalo Bills in Week 13, and the team also has two games left against Baltimore and a matchup with the Detroit Lions on the schedule. The franchise is going to have to pull off some upsets in order to sneak into the Wild Card or back into the lead in the division, and there is a realistic chance the team misses the postseason for the first time in two seasons.
Mike Tomlin's Bold Statement After Steelers' Loss: 'We Don’t Deserve To Win'
The Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Chicago Bears on Sunday by a score of 31-28. The loss put Pittsburgh at 6-5 through 11 games and knocks the franchise out of first place in the AFC North. The Baltimore Ravens won their game against the New York Jets and have moved into first place in the division, and as things currently stand, the Steelers are out of the playoffs if the regular season were to end today. Pittsburgh made mistakes in all three phases of the game in Chicago, and ultimately the team could not pull off a comeback in the fourth quarter.
There were multiple instances in the game against Chicago where Pittsburgh made some sort of mistake. The offense turned the ball over twice, special teams struggled, and the defense could not get the Bears offense off of the field. There was not one phase of the game that the Steelers won over Chicago.
The Bears did great when it came to converting first downs, while the Steelers turned the ball over on downs twice. The first instance came in the first half, where Pittsburgh failed to convert a fourth and one rather than kicking a field goal to take a 10 point lead. Head Coach Mike Tomlin was asked about this decision during his post game press conference, and why he chose not to take the three points.
"Because if you can't make it on fourth down and one man; often times you don't deserve to win." Tomlin said.
The instance being referred to was in the second quarterback of the game as the Steelers had a seven point lead. Pittsburgh had the ball at Chicago's 30-yard line, and it was fourth and one. The Steelers lined up with Connor Heyward under center as the offense was doing its version of the "tush push".
The play did not work as Heyward was stuffed and was not granted the line to gain on his second effort. The play resulted in a turnover on downs, and Chicago went on to tie the game up with a touchdown.
The play seemed dysfunctional for the Steelers as Heyward did not seem to give much of an effort after receiving the ball from the center. Kenneth Gainwell lines up behind Heyward to his side on this play, and the two were seen on the broadcast having a heated discussion after the play as they walked off of the field. Pittsburgh ran the same play
On the fake Pittsburgh ran, Heyward turned around quickly and gave the ball to Gainwell. Their heated discussion after the failed version of the "Tush Push" along with the lack of an initial effort from Heyward suggests that the fake might have been what was supposed to happen the first time around. A miscommunication may have occurred, but Tomlin still believes his team didn't deserve to win the game if his offense couldn't gain one yard in a high pressure situation.
Steelers Did Not Deserve To Win In Chicago
Pittsburgh struggled in every facet of the game on Sunday, and the group did not deserve to win despite a near game-winning drive to end the game. Pittsburgh turned the ball over twice, and each turnover resulted in points for Chicago.
The offense put the defense in tough situations, and the defense could not get the opposing offense off of the field. Special teams was also an area that caused some trouble as Chicago was consistently able to return the ball out to around the 30-yard line, while Pittsburgh was often stuck with their drives starting around the 20.
