Matchup of the Week: Le’Veon Bell vs. Bears run ‘D’
What battle will be the one to watch on the field each week?
Steel City Underground has you covered with our “Matchup of the Week” series, which highlights one or more key encounters between the Pittsburgh Steelers and their upcoming opponent.
Over the first two games of the 2017 NFL regular season, the Pittsburgh Steelers have witnessed something they may or may not have been completely prepared for: Le’Veon Bell looking rusty and not in sync with his teammates on offense. Yes, Bell missed the preseason. Yes, he missed time practicing plays with the personnel on the field … but this is still the same Todd Haley offense and most of the key players remain the same. So, what’s going on?
First, it hasn’t just been Bell that has been ‘off’. The entire Steelers offense has yet to break into full stride. Timing is key to an efficient offense on any NFL team, and the first two games were a bit of a breaking-in period as everyone gets on the same page. That isn’t to say that the Steelers are awful; they are quite the opposite. Fans notice it doesn’t seem to pack the high-powered punch they expected this season, and that can be concerning, but it isn’t something that should cause panic.
Against the Browns, Bell looked very rusty. He appeared to not be on the same page as the offensive line and out of rhythm. He ran for just 32 yards on 10 carries and had three receptions for 15 yards. Bell did get a nice 15-yard scamper in the game.
Against the Vikings, Bell was slow getting started but then warmed up. He looked more confident and even with Alejandro Villanueva suffering from illness and a change on the offensive line as a result, Bell seemed to feel the direction and pulse of the blocking ahead of him. He carried the ball 27 times for 87 yards (the same average yards per carry as the week before at 3.2), but had a few plays that looked like they could have broken open for long yardage. The Vikings were notably strong in their defensive front seven, which made them difficult to rush against.
Entering the game, Chicago ranks 25th in defense among 32 teams. Through two weeks, they are ranked 15th against the run and 24th versus the pass. They’ll face Pittsburgh’s 29th rushing offense rank, so don’t get too excited just yet thinking that this is just going to be a game where the Steelers can walk up and down the field without involving the pass.
Against the Buccaneers, outside linebacker Pernell McPhee was able to strip the ball out of Tampa running back Charles Sims‘ hands and create a nice turnover for a defense that has not produced much in that area (at least not in a positive way). He got a lot more time on the field in Week 2, but Willie Young and Sam Acho will likely share snaps – similar to how the Bears dealt with the Falcons in Week 1 – against the Steelers.
Part of the issue for the Bears is the injuries to second-year inside linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski just four tackles into the game’s opening possession. Kwiatkoski was in for veteran Jerrell Freeman, who had sustained the same pectoral injury in Week 1 and is done for the season. As for how bad the injury is, coach John Fox said, “We’re kind of in a wait-and-see…”, despite NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reporting on Monday that Kwiatkoski was feared lost for the season.
#Bears LB Nick Kwiatkoski, who left #Bucs game with a pec, is feared to have suffered a season-ending injury, source said. MRI to confirm.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 18, 2017
Fox says the team is still determining time of recovery for Nick Kwiatkoski: "There’s different opinions and we’ll keep you posted."
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 20, 2017
Early on, the Bears realized they’d need to lean heavy on their defense while Mitch Trubisky was tutored at quarterback behind Mike Glennon. Freeman’s loss is felt most in the run defense and short coverage.
That requires the Bears to get Leonard Floyd motivated and more involved. Floyd has the potential to be very disruptive, but hasn’t been turned loose yet. He has zero sacks in two games and six combined tackle with a single pass defensed.
Conclusion? The Bears may have only allowed three rushes thus far in the season of ten-plus yards, but expect the Steelers to dial up the no-huddle or at least a quicker tempo on offense to take advantage of a Chicago defense that is going to spend a ton of time focused on how they match up with Pittsburgh’s threats at receiver. This is the week that Bell gets his legs back under him and exploits a Bears team that has more on its plate than it can handle defensively.
