The Chicago Bears were heavy underdogs against Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers going into Sunday's game at Soldier Field. The Bears were 0-2 and the Steelers were 2-0. In the unusually warm Chicago air, the Bears pulled out a 23-17 win in Overtime behind a great defensive effort and the legs of Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen.

This is the first Bears regular-season victory since December 4th of last year and their first win against an above .500 team since October 31st of last year. The Bears were able to neutralize Le'Veon Bell, holding him to 61 rushing yards as well as keeping some pressure on Roethlisberger, holding him under 250 yards passing.

While Mike Glennon did not have incredible numbers by any means, the offense rushed for 220 yards with Howard scoring two of three Bears touchdowns.

Quick recap

The Bears got on the board early in the first quarter on a Jordan Howard rushing touchdown, which was set up by Sherrick McManis recovering a muffed punt by Eli Rogers at the Steelers 19. The next Steelers drive, Bryce Callahan forced a fumble on a Roethlisberger sack which was recovered by Akiem Hicks. Connor Barth, however, missed a 47-yard field goal and the Bears came away empty after that second turnover. In the second quarter, the Steelers tied the game at seven on an Antonio Brown touchdown catch, but the Bears came right back on the next drive with Glennon passing to rookie tight end Adam Shaheen in the end zone for a 14-7 lead.

The half ended in very strange fashion as the Bears blocked a punt but fell short of the end zone on the recovery. They kicked a field goal instead to go up 17-7. This will be explained in more detail after the recap.

The Steelers came out in the second half and scored after a controversial fumble by Howard (his leg appeared to be down, but it was ruled a fumble) and the score was 17-14 Bears in the middle of the third quarter.

It looked like the Bears would fall behind and possibly lose when Glennon got picked off by J. J. Wilcox in the 4th quarter. However, the defense buckled down again and held the Steelers to a field goal, which tied the game at 17. Each team would possess the ball two more times but nobody scored, sending the game to overtime.

Chicago won the toss and got the ball to start overtime. Cohen rushed for 36 yards and was ruled to be out of bounds at the Pittsburgh 37-yard line which would set up Jordan Howard's heroic plays. Howard rushed for 18 yards on the next play to set up 1st down at the 19, the game ended when the ball was once again given to Howard who rushed all 19 yards into the end zone. It was not the prettiest played game by the Bears, considering they committed 10 penalties with the bad blunder in the second quarter, but a win is a win.

Cooper's big mistake

In the last seconds of the first half, the Steelers set to kick a field goal when the kick was blocked and recovered by Marcus Cooper. He ran back towards the end zone looking like it was an easy touchdown...until he slowed down before getting in, which allowed the Steelers to knock the ball away from him.

It was originally ruled half over, and Pittsburgh was heading back to their locker room already. It looked like it could have been a safety, but the officials didn't signal any scoring play after Cooper was taken down. The referees ended up putting the Bears offense on one-yard line with one play left. The Bears were flagged when they lined up and had to move back, so they kicked a field goal instead.

It was a very embarrassing moment for Cooper, and frankly, has no place in the NFL. He is very lucky it did not cost the Bears a win. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Falcons kept winning.
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