The Pittsburgh Steelers extended their losing record in the Windy City to 1-13 all-time after suffering a 28-31 loss against the Chicago Bears. A key reason behind this defeat was the efficiency shown by the Steelers’ defense, which allowed 14 points off turnovers. Addressing this issue, Linebacker TJ Watt took responsibility.

“Absolutely. That’s definitely a point of emphasis to be able to help our offense and create those, to limit them to three points or no points or create turnovers,” TJ Watt said in the post-game press conference. “Anytime you’re not able to do that, you’re not able to support your offense. It’s not a good recipe.”

But this wasn’t the case throughout the game, as the Steelers were on the front foot on the defensive end. The Steelers star linebacker registered his 115th career sack after bringing down Bears QB1 Caleb Williams. But this wasn’t all, as edge rusher Nick Herbig recovered the fumbled ball and went on to score a touchdown 14 seconds into the second quarter.

But after this moment, the Steelers failed to register a single sack as they ended up conceding 229 passing yards and 11 passing 1st downs. The Bears converted 7 of 13 attempts on third down at a 53.8% conversion rate to sustain drives through the game. Chicago also became the fourth team to score 30 or more points against the Steelers this season, further highlighting their defensive woes.

TJ, who passed his brother JJ Watt in career sacks during this game, also responded to the question about whether his team handled the emotions well in this topsy-turvy game.

“It didn’t result in good enough play, so I don’t know about the emotions, but we need to play better,” the Steelers linebacker said.

Though the game has ended in a defeat, there’s an important update issued by head coach Mike Tomlin about next week’s offense.

What did Tomlin reveal about the Steelers’ offense for Week 13?

After suffering their fifth loss for the season, the Pittsburgh Steelers have a silver lining from this result. In the post-game presser, head coach Mike Tomlin revealed that “Aaron Rodgers is expected to start in Week 13,” after missing this game due to a left wrist injury from the Week 11 divisional match-up against the Cincinnati Bengals.

With this defeat at Soldier Field, the Pittsburgh Steelers will lean on Aaron Rodgers to not only play but carry the team to keep their playoff hopes alive. After losing four of their last six games, the Steelers have failed to capitalize on their lead in the AFC North. The second-place Baltimore Ravens also have a 6-5 record but are currently ahead in the standings due to tiebreakers.