For Mike Tomlin‘s Steelers, the Week 12 matchup against a depleted Bears team was supposed to be a routine win. Instead, it became a case study in how expectations can crumble as Chicago pulled off an impressive 31-28 win. The win is not a mystery anymore, as analyst Colin Cowherd believes he knows exactly why.

Explaining that the Steelers may have believed it would be an easy win since Chicago missed out on six defensive starters. However, the Bears were aggressive in the game and forced the Steelers to play.

“Their entire linebacking core was out,” he said on his show. “So suddenly you go into this game with Pittsburgh thinking, ‘Oh, we can’t be boring. We’ve got to actually move the ball down the field.”

So, whether the Steelers had that mindset or not, there were some noticeable issues.

Their offensive collapse in the second half was painful. The offense ran only 11 plays in the third quarter, had two punts, and turned the ball over on downs. There was a lack of deep passing. And the offense felt predictable, which helped the Bears. Despite the Bears’ depleted lineup, Pittsburgh only scored 21 points.

Moreover, two critical turnovers by Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph directly led to Chicago scoring touchdowns. The list is long, with poor time management in the final drive that ultimately led to the Steelers losing the game.

But on the other hand, the Bears were consistently impressive throughout the game. Cowherd spoke highly of the Bears’ head coach Ben Johnson’s chemistry with their quarterback Caleb Williams.

“Caleb Williams, in my opinion, Chicago Bears, played his best game as a pro.” Cowherd said. “Ben and Caleb is a marriage and both are helping each other out. Ben has provided creative play design and creative play calling, and he’s created some structure and focused on the run game and Caleb is given Ben Johnson the horsepower that Jared Goff in Detroit could have only dreamed of. It is a marriage not of convenience. It works. It’s never going to be perfect.”

“Caleb gives you all this horsepower, but he does miss some throws. It’s just, you know, it’s just part of his game. And I said this, I’ll always take the upside for some struggles in accuracy. And Ben and Caleb are both incredibly gifted.”

He added that though the QB has accuracy issues, Johnson has been able to help him with solid play-calling. Chicago also saw efforts from linebackers D’Marco Jackson and Amen Ogbongbemiga, leading them to a win.

However, this rhythm felt missing in the Steelers’ game.

Although it’s not just Cowherd who is noticing these issues, as there has been some dissatisfaction in the locker room, too.

Patrick Queen addresses “schematic issues” with the Steelers

Apart from missing their QB Aaron Rodgers, the Steelers also had issues in defense, which came to light in the loss to the Bears. After the game, linebacker Patrick Queen didn’t mince his words while pointing out the issues with the Steelers and Coach Tomlin’s defensive schemes.

“Just knowing what’s coming and us not doing nothing about it. You hear guys talking all over the field, communicating what’s coming and play still happens. So it is tough.” Queen said.

“I think we just got to be better, honestly. I think sometimes it was schematic issues that we had. It’s kind of hard for two guys that are underneath defenders to try and guard two routes. That’s overhanging off the hashes and stuff. As much as you try to get to a bang or whatever it is, it’s hard to do that. It’s kind of a bad spot to be in. But at the end of the day, we just got to be better,” he added.

Understandably, Queen was upset over the mismanaged coverage that left defenders struggling to cover multiple routes. One such instance was seen during DJ Moore’s second touchdown. The Steelers’ defensive issues allowed the Bears to take the lead 24–21, helping the Bears secure the win.

So, while the Steelers may have had a strong mindset heading into Week 12, their mistakes showed that they need to improve consistency if they want to stay competitive.