The Pittsburgh Steelers had won five straight games and 10 of their last 11 heading into today’s match-up with the Chicago Bears.  Jeff Reed and his inconsistent leg, however, cost the Steelers today as they lost to the Bears 17-14 on a late 44-yard field goal by Bears’ kicker Robbie Gould.  Reed missed a 38-yard attempt and a 43 yard attempt, both in the 4th quarter.  Reed’s 43 yard miss gave the ball back to the Bears with a little over three minutes to play on their own 33 yard line.  Bears’ quarterback Jay Cutler was able to lead the Bears down the field to the Steelers’ 26 yard-line, leaving the consistent Robbie Gould an easy 44-yard field goal.

The Steelers defense played solid, but star safety Troy Polamalu was missed as Jay Cutler was able to slice through the Steelers defense with a lot of short precise passes.  Polamalu’s replacement, Tyrone Carter, was beaten by Bears’ receiver Johnny Knox for the Bears game tying touchdown late in the 4th quarter.  Cutler improved vastly in this game after throwing a career high four interceptions against the Green Bay Packers last week.  He went for 237 yards and two touchdowns on 27/38 (71 %) pass attempts.

Ben Roethlisberger had an okay game, playing well enough to get the win today if not for Reed’s two 4th quarter field goal misses.  He finished with 221 yards on 23/35 attempts and had one touchdown and one interception.  He also had a rushing touchdown late in the 3rd quarter that put the Steelers up 14-7.  Santonio Holmes and Hines Ward had solid games for the Steelers, as Holmes had five catches for 83 yards and Ward had six catches for 57 yards.  The Steelers will look to rebound next week in Cincinnati, as they take on the Bengals.  The Steelers might need to find themselves a new kicker though, as Reed’s choke job today cost the Steelers this game.

FINAL SCORE:  Bears 17, Steelers 14