Watching the early games on Sunday, a couple bad omens have started to emerge.  Remember last Sunday night when the Bears and Packers defenses imposed their will on the other team’s defenses pretty much all night?

Well, we were all pretty excited that Adawale Ogunleye started his contract year with a bang with two sacks.  Bengals DE Antoine Odom has FIVE sacks against the Packers today.

The Bears offense couldn’t move the ball with any consistency until the fourth quarter.  The Bengals have put up 28 points, and if not for their typical Bengal-ness rearing it’s head (horrendous turnovers, killer self-imposed penalties) they might have 40.

So as we wait for the start of the Bears-Steelers, you can’t help but wonder what a real defense is going to do to the Bears.  Then again, the Steelers o-line is probably as bad as Green Bay’s, so there’s that.

Also, the Titans defense smacked the Steelers around pretty well last week, and the Texans have bent them over and are having their way with them in a 31-31 shootout with 5:24 left in the game.

The Bears win the toss and take the ball, and Johnny Knox returns the kick to the 29.  Jim Nantz says “Every time in his career Cutler’s had a bad game, he’s bounced back the next week.”  He’s got a lot of room to bounce.

On the game’s second play, they run a little bubble screen to Hester, and for the fourth time (unofficial count) this season he inexplicably does a 360 during his run.  He goes nowhere.  But nowhere fast, so there’s that.

On third and six, the Bears dip into their vast playbook and throw a two yard pass and Matt Forte is annihilated by James Harrison.  Great?  Somewhere, John Shoop is watching and nodding with approval.

On Maynard’s punt, one of the Steelers throws a punch and isn’t ejected.  He is, however given a 15 yard penalty.  Maybe it was such a sissy punch, they thought it was a slap?

The Steelers start on their own eight, and Dante Jones makes the first tackle.  Wait, that can’t be right.  I need a newer roster.  Maybe it was Dan Rains?

As if to mock the Bears, on second and six, the Steelers run the play the Bears ran on third, and they make it work, for a first down.

OK, the current 53 is Nick Roach, and he announces his presence with authority by catching “Fast” Willie Parker in the backfield on second and 10.

On third and 12 from the 17, Ben has about ten minutes to pass, and goes to his 14th option and finds Santonio Holmes for 24 yards.  On the replay we see that Holmes wasn’t the intended receiver, instead it was Heath Miller, but who cares, both of them were wide open.

On another short pass to the right, Heath Miller makes a great block to spring Holmes for a long run.  When the Bears run that, does Olsen ever block anybody?

Nantz notes that the Bears have only allowed one opening drive TD in their last 28 games.  That’s going to last about one more play.  The Steelers are doing things to the Bears defense that are illegal in most southern states.

With 6:36 left in the quarter and with second and goal, Ben calls a timeout.  Pissburgh keeps a fax machine on the sidelines (Ron Santo loves those things) so Ben can check periodically to see if he’s been indicted again for anything.

CBS shows a shot of Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers on the field before the game.  You can read Gale Sayers’ lips as he says, “Bastards refused to give me the appearance fee in cash, again.”

Steelers run a screen to Miller and Al Afalava makes a great tackle on him at the five.

Third and goal is a slant to Mewelde Moore and Afalava stones him at the one and keeps him out.  At least the Bears have one guy who can tackle.

Fourth and one the Steelers go for it and run a bootleg with Roethlisberger and he finds the second tight end Ben Spaeth across the endline for a touchdown.  The Bears defense was sloppier on that drive than the shitty resodding job on the field.

This could be a long day.

You don’t want to see what Danieal Manning did on the replay of that Steelers’ TD.  He clearly had the tight end man to man and he stood straight up, watched Ben roll away from him and then decided to find the tight end, who had already run past him.  Manning might be fast, but he’s a shitty defensive back in any of the spots they try him at.

Hey, a Greg Olsen sighting!  He catches a six yard pass to start the second “drive.”

Then on third down he drops one so the Bears are three and out again.  And I mean he drops it, it hit both of his hands.  Bobby Wade might still be gone, but he’s always here in spirit.

Every time the Steelers try to run the Bears have about six guys there to make the stop.  Maybe that’s why every time they pass there’s nobody near the receiver?

And as I type that, Parker rips a 12 yard run on second and 10.

Then a nine yard pass to Miller, with a fine tackle effort by Manning who apparently thinks it’s “two hand touch on the helmet.”  Then another long run by Parker.  If this keeps up, the Bears are going to have to fire Gerald Perry.

Cedric Benson ran for 141 yards in Green Bay today.  Matt Forte is on pace to run for that much by week six.  Something tells me it’s not all Forte’s fault.

On third and ten the Bears blitz and nobody gets anywhere near Ben.  Hines Ward is lonely at mid field and Ben finds him for a long gain.  I’m not sure how to describe how much time Ben has had to throw, but if you picture him dropping back, and then reading a short novel before he throws, that would give you a good idea.

Alex Brown nails Ben (yes, he hit him during the play and everything) as he tries to go deep, and Peanut picks him off inside the ten.  On the return the Bears block in the back, but at least they’ve got the ball.  For three more plays, at least.

CBS shows a shot of the Grant Park fountain, and somewhere, somebody says, “Hey, it’s the fountain from “Married with Children.”  When we all know it was actually named after Lindsay Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac.

Lots of time for Cutler and he finds Kellen Davis and…oh my, it’s a first down!

Then, Davis keeps up the tight end trend of catch one-drop one, by dropping one when he could have crawled for a second straight first down.

Cutler’s heating up.  He finds Earl for eight yards.  So if you’re scoring at home he’s now hit the last six receivers on the hands with the ball and has three completions.  Great?

Third and three, Cutler gets smoked by James Farrior and Johnny Knox makes a great catch across the middle for another first down.  See Johnny, that play works better when you don’t stop running.

Jason McKie gets caught holding trying to pick up a blitz, and now it’s going to be 1st and 20.  Brad Maynard starts loosening up on the sidelines.

Nantz says the Bears go “empty” in the backfield, but Cutler is there, so is it really empty?  Davis makes a nice catch but falls down and it’s 3rd and nine.

Cutler gets time and finds Knox open for a first down but the throw is too high.  Cue Maynard.

So far the Bears have two first downs on three possessions, and unofficially the Steelers have 127.

Rashard Mendenhall is in for the Steelers.  Now would be a good time for one of your famous fumbles, Rashard.

Third and three and the Bears defense calls timeout.  Nobody…I repeat nobody…can piss away timeouts like Lovie Smith.  I mean, now that Herm Edwards is on TV instead of on the sidelines of course.

It’s now raining in Chicago for the first time in more than two weeks.  Third and three, Ben finds Holmes wide open for an easy first down.  On the next one Holmes is open for another first down, but drops it.  Greg Olsen stands up and yells, “That’s MY move!”

What’s dumber, that the park district scheduled a U2 concert for a week before the opener, or that 60,000 people showed up see a band that hasn’t been good for more than a decade?

Third and 15, the Bears tip up a pass and Peanut almost picks it off.  So time to punt right?  Not so fast, Wale was caught offsides so it’s 3rd and 10.  Despite every Bears fans’ assurance that the Steelers will score on the next play, Ben misses an open Holmes.

Sepulveda (punts and of course the Steelers down it at the one.  99 yards?  No problem.

First and ten from the one, Cutler looks deep and dumps it off to the original Adrian Peterson who drops it.  But James Harrison tries to kneecap Cutler late and is called for roughing the passer.

Hester drops a catchable pass on first down and it is nearly intercepted.  Is that seven dropped passes?

The original AP rips off a long run, and then Johnny Knox picks up 20 yards on a reception.

Greg Olsen is hit and killed on the sidelines by Tyrone Carter and drops the pass (this one would have been impossible to hang on to).  Cutler found him streaking up the sidelines and put it right on him, and then Carter put HIM on him.  Ouch.

Olsen is up and walking around, and still wearing his helmet.  That’s a good sign because if he had a concussion they’d take his helmet away from him.  Or, maybe his head has swollen so much, so fast that they can’t get it off?

Third and three, Cutler avoids a sack, finds Knox and Knox…you guessed it…drops it.  Thankfully the Steelers are called for defensive holding and a first down.

If you’re wondering why the Bears’ receivers never dropped this many passes before, it could be that because for the last 60 years they never had this many actually hit them on the hands.

Knox turns that penalty into a nice play.  He catches a swing pass and takes it inside the 20.  Obviously the Steelers are double or tripling the great Earl Bennett and leaving Knox open.

Bono just saved a TD for the Steelers.  Olsen slips on the NFL Shield painted on the brand new sod and what would have been an easy TD (even for the Bears with the dropsies today) falls incomplete.

Nice play by the original AP, he catches a pass a yard short of the first, but bounces off the linebacker and drives through him for the first down.  First and goal from the six.

First down (the down you should pass on at the goal line), AP runs for one yard.

Second down (the down you can run or pass) the Bears take away their run-pass option by motioning their running back (Forte) and Cutler has nowhere to pass (since the Steelers know it’s a pass) and tries to run and gets back to the line of scrimmage.

Third down (the down that’s hardest to pass on at the goal line) touchdown pass to Kellen Davis.  Great throw by Cutler and a really good catch by Davis who got hammered by Carter (who enjoys hitting tight ends with the top of his helmet and will be paralyzed by about 5:30 tonight.)  Game tied 7-7.

The Steelers take a knee to end the half.  So the Steelers dominated the first 23 minutes of the half, but the Bears drove 99 yards to tie it.  Cutler is 14-20 for 112 yards and a TD, and has had seven passes dropped.  Huh?  With penalties and such (love the such) he’s actually thrown 10 passes that were not caught.  Of those, the only bad throw in the bunch was when he overthrew Knox and another was an accurate throw that almost killed Olsen.

The Bears defense starts the second half on a great note.  On third and 10, Alex Brown thinks he sees a Steeler o-lineman move so he runs across the line and points, nobody does anything so he gets back on his side of the neutral zone, Pissburgh snaps the ball and Ben bounces one off Hunter Hillenmeyer and the Steelers are three and out.

I like this Sony commercial with Justin Timberlake, Peyton Manning and Erin Andrews, but only the version where she sets naked and brushes her hair.

Some day, Cutler will learn to just take a sack.  On first down Lamar Woodley is all over him and Jay blindly throws one down the field and it’s almost picked off.

Great signs on that series, first play, the Bears don’t pick up a blitz and Cutler almost throws a pick.  Second down, Forte runs for a yard.  Third down, the Bears don’t pick up a blitz and Cutler is called for intentional grounding.  Love those halftime adjustments.  Kudos to Lovie Smith and Ron Turner.

Nantz says that today’s game features “the two all-time leading rushers in Tulane history.”  Matt Forte and Mewelde Moore.  But that’s not true.  The third is also here.  He’s selling beer in section 232.

The best defense both teams have played so far is letting the other team drop passes.

The way the Steelers run offense it’s almost like they are trying to avoid being in third and eight or nine.  The way the Bears run offense is’s like they are encouraging it.

On third and three, Anthony Adams and Alex Brown finally sack that huge goddamned tree the Steelers are playing at quarterback.

And, we have a Tommie Harris sighting.  He could be seen getting up off the ground to run over and high five Brown.

I miss Tommie Harris.

I think it’s great that the new iPod Nano’s have video cameras in them.  I just think it would be better if the iPods people actually want had them, too.

Nantz and Simms are telling the story about how Ron Turner fucked up the Jay Cutler scholarship thing when he was at Illinois.  Just more reason to feel so comfortable with our offensive coordinator.

Meanwhile, on the field, the Bears are taking turns committing false starts.

Second and long, Orlando Pace makes like a snow plow and clears a huge lane for Earl on a wide receiver screen and a first down.  Orlando may be old, but he can still run.  (He just can’t block short guys.)

Knox makes a great leaping effort but the ball comes loose when he hits the ground.  The fans boo, but it’s not a catch.  Hey, I don’t make the rules, I just mock the guys who don’t know the rules.

On that play, CBS shows that Hester got open deep.  Simms says Cutler didn’t see him.  But Cutler had rolled right and Hester was open down the opposite sidelines.  That pass would have ended badly.

Garrett Wolfe takes a bad angle on the Steelers punt returner but recovers to tackle him, 20 yards down the field.  Hey, did I mention that Garrett’s alma mater (and mine) beat Purdue yesterday?  And did I mention that Purdue’s coach wears a whistle around neck on the sidelines during the game?  He might want to switch to a noose.

What the fuck?  The Bears miss Roethlisberger for a sack, he dumps it off to Mendenhall who falls down, nobody’s near him so he gets up and runs for 14 yards.  Ben blocks Hillenmeyer at the knees, but they pick up the flag because it was more than five yards down field.

Mendenhall (still prepping for that crippling fumble he owes us) does a 360 after he takes the handoff, but Manning drops him for a loss.  But…(there’s always a but) Mark Anderson shoves a Steeler into a ref after the play.  Fifteen yards for being a dumbass.

Mendenhall breaks a long run inside the five.  And if you didn’t think the Bears would miss Urlacher, the hole opens because Hunter Hillenmeyer is blown up and out of the hole.

First and goal, Roethlisberger bootlegs left and scores easily.  14-7.

Knox breaks a long run on the kickoff, and Al Afalava is caught for just an awfulava penalty away from the play.  So the Bears start at the 13 instead of the Steelers 45.

Forte takes a swing pass for nine yards.  He hasn’t rushed for much in the first two games, but he should look forward to Seattle next week.  Frank Gore had 201 yards against them today with 12 minutes left in the third quarter.

Forte runs for a first down and has now rushed for 13 yards on six carries.  Yay?

Pace gets torched by James Harrison, but recovers to ride him past Cutler, but all it does is flush Cutler into Lamar Woodley for the sack.  The Bears offense has consisted of only one drive all day, and that does not appear to be going to change any time soon.

When Tennessee gained yards on Pissburgh in the opener they did it by spreading the field and working the middle.  The Bears just keep throwing passes to the edges. That’s never going to work.  And, on third and 15 the Bears run a draw.  Phil Simms applauds the strategy.  Phil Simms is a dope.

Willie Parker rips off 13 yards on first down.  Don’t blame that on Hunter.  That time, Jamar Williams got lit up.

Third and nine, Roethlisberger finds a wide open Santonio Holmes inside the 30.  Why is it that every time a Steeler is wide open the first guy on the screen is Kevin Payne?

The Steelers are getting big chunks of yards off the right side.  Then they hit Holmes on a slant inside the 15.  They are about to nail the Bears coffin shut.

Second and eight from the 11, Alex Brown is free when Payne blitzes off the right edge and he runs down Parker for a loss.  Nice call there.

Third and nine, Brown and…wait for it…Tommie Harris sack Ben to force a field goal attempt.  Jeff Reed misses it and the Bears still have a lidless coffin.

The Bears continue to throw those quick stops to the receiver, and Cutler seems to want to kill Knox.  It’s high, but Knox hauls it in and gains eight yards.

Third and three, Cutler is almost sacked, gets away from Farrior and hits Hester across the middle.  Devin makes a really nice catch in traffic for a huge first down.

We have a reenactment of Tyrone Carter hitting Olsen in the head with his helmet.  Olsen hangs on this time and is inside the 25.  Great play fake by Cutler, and an unbelievable job of Olsen hanging on to it.

Jay is really slinging it now.  He hits Kellen for eight yards.  When he gets in a rhythm throwing it, Jay Cutler is a sight to see.

Olsen is open inside the ten, and he thought the defender was right behind him, so he throws his ass backwards and hits nobody.  It probably didn’t cost him any yards, it just looked…funny.

First and goal…Bears throw!  Cutler doesn’t have anybody and fires it into the stands.

Second and goal…Forte runs for one yard.  Third and goal from the seven coming up.

Third and goal…touchdown JOHNNY KNOX!!!  For once, the Bears pick up a blitz and Cutler has just enough time to fire it to Knox for the easy score.  Robbie Gould ties it at 14.

It’s turned into a quarterback duel, and for the first time in a long time, the Bears are not unarmed.

How about Johnny Knox?  From draft day afterthought to indispensible offensive cog in a very short time.  Five catches, 65 yards and a TD, and some nice kick returns, to boot.

Time for a little defense.  The Steelers have the ball with 6:15 go go at their 30.

How much does Guitar Hero Van Halen suck if they’re giving it away with Guitar Hero Five?  Just asking.

Jim Nantz is trying to figure out a way to give Ben a “come from behind” credit if the Steelers score here.  Calm down, Jimmy.

Second and eight, Ben finds Hines Ward for ten yards.  Way too much time.

Mewelde Moore’s turn to break a long run and he’s inside the 45 of the Bears.  Something tells me the Steelers will not be playing for a field goal.

Peanuts falls down and leaves Holmes wide open, but then Holmes falls down trying to adjust to the pass.  Pass credit given to The Edge.

Pass is broken up and it just hangs in the air waiting to be intercepted, but Kevin Payne ham hands it to the turf.  Wouldn’t have mattered, Alex Brown was caught being offsides.  The replay doesn’t look that convincing.  Looked like he timed the snap pretty well.

Second and five and Lance Briggs just hammered Ben.  Nice to see the big boy take one in the grill.  Third and five coming up.  Big play.

The Bears have to help Alex Brown off the field.  How much does the hurt?  On the third and five Ben’s flushed from the pocket and the guy in Brown’s spot, Mark Anderson can’t get to him until he’s run for the first down by about six inches.

Tommie Harris!  Harris shoots the gap and dumps Mewelde Moore for a loss of two.  Under four minutes left.  Nantz thinks the Steelers are going to run all of the time off the clock.  Lovie calls time out just to be sure that doesn’t happen.

Tillman slips and 94 year old 60 Minutes star Mike Wallace catches one in front of him to set up third and two.

Ben finds Holmes open behind Tillman and Peanut does a great job of recovering to get a hand in Holmes’ face to break it up in the end zone.

Jeff Reed misses again!  This time from 43 yards.  The Bears have the ball, 3:18 to go and the world’s most clutchiest kicker in Robbie Gould to make this happen.

Bears screen to Forte and he breaks a huge run and the guy who only fumbled once all last year fumbles, but Greg Olsen hops on it.  Huge play for the Bears.  First and ten from the Pissburgh 45.  2:35 left.

Johnny Knox breaks a tackle and gets out of bounds at the Pissburgh 40.

Pissburgh has two timeouts left.  The Bears might want to start staying in bounds now.

But first things first, they aren’t in range yet.  Forte gains a yard and it’s 3rd and four at the 39.  Since Lovie never lets Robbie kick 50 yarders, the Bears probably need to gain nine or ten more yards.

Cutler finds Devin for a first down.  Nice play, Devin snuck in behind Earl and in front of the backer and took it down to the 34 yard line.

Forte takes it inside the 30, and the Bears are at the fringes of Robbie’s range.  Pissburgh has only one timeout left now.  1:12 left.

Phil think the Bears would like ten more yards.  Personally, I’d like 30 more.

Forte takes it to the 27.  Pissburgh is now out of timeouts.  If you run it one more time, you can kill the clock with under :25 left, kick the field goal, hopefully make the damn thing and give it back to Pissburgh after the kickoff with less than :15 left in the game.

Forte goes right to the middle of the field and is dropped for no gain.  It’ll be a 44 yarder with about :20 left.

Robbie nails it from 44!  Never in doubt.  :15 left.

Say what you want about the length of his leg, but the little fucker always comes through.  Of course, he is the highest paid kicker in the league, so it’s not like he’s underappreciated.

Pissburgh fumbles the kick return, Craig Steltz recovers it and after all that bullshit in the media about Cutler and his attitude and all that other nonsense, the Bears are 1-1.

That was a great win.  Fourth quarter comeback against the world champs?  What are the columnist mopes gonna bitch about this time?

Who’s the most valuable Bear?  Jeff Reed comes to mind.

But I would go 1) Johnny Knox, 2) Alex Brown and 3) Jay Cutler.  And in reality, given the way the offense was able to hang around and finally get it going, it ought to be Cutler.