CHICAGO — Mike Glennon, Steelers killer?
The Chicago Bears quarterback has two victories in just three years. He quarterbacked the low-hanging fruit known as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a stunning 27-24 upset Sept. 28, 2014 in Heinz Field.
He did not win another game until Sunday, when he quarterbacked the Chicago Bears to a 23-17 overtime victory against the Steelers at Soldier Field.
The Steelers should hope they never see Glennon or Chicago again. They are 0-2 against Glennon, 1-13 in Chicago.
“Just finding a way to win against a really good football team is the goal every week,’’ Glennon said.
His goal every week would probably be to play the Steelers.
Glennon did not have a great game. He threw an interception to J.J. Wilcox that set up a Steelers touchdown. He was 15 of 22 for just 101 yards and sacked twice. His one touchdown pass carried 2 yards.
Air Jordan
After the disastrous field-goal block just before halftime, holder Jordan Berry got on his high horse and helped Vance McDonald chase down Marcus Cooper Sr., who, as history will remind us, inexplicably stopped at the 1. McDonald slapped the ball out of Cooper’s hands. Berry dived and batted the ball out of bounds.
Berry was surprised but not totally stunned that Cooper stopped.
“You see that stuff on TV from time to time,” he said. “It’s bound to happen every now and then. That’s why you run and try to get in that position. You definitely don’t want to quit on a play. This is the NFL. This ain’t some junk league. You gotta go to the end, ’cause as you saw there, something can happen.”
According to the NFL’s “Holy Roller” rule — regarding fumbles in the final two minutes of the half — the only Bears player who could have recovered the ball in the end zone and had it ruled a touchdown was the fumbler himself, Cooper. Berry wasn’t taking that chance, even though replays showed Cooper was out of the play by then.
Bad angles
It looked as if linebacker Ryan Shazier and safety Mike Mitchell took poor angles on Jordan Howard’s 19-yard touchdown run in overtime. Shazier’s take: “I’d have to look at the film, but I probably took a bad angle. He started one way and came back the other way. I have to step into that gap and be there for my teammates.”
Shazier had some shining moments, as well, finishing with a game-high 11 tackles, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
This ’n that
The Steelers are 24-20-2 in overtime games. … They are 7-19-1 in regular-season history against the Bears (1-13 on the road) … Ben Roethlisberger passed Philip Rivers (3,864) for the ninth-most pass completions in NFL history, now with 3,873. … Antonio Brown reached 650 career receptions on his second catch in his 104th career regular-season game, setting an NFL record for the fewest games to the milestone (Marvin Harrison: 107). Brown also surpassed John Stallworth (8,723) for the second-most receiving yards in franchise history with 8,731. Hines Ward is first with 12,083. … Le’Veon Bell broke a tie with Barry Foster and John Henry Johnson (26) for sole possession of the sixth-most rushing touchdowns in Steelers history with 27.
Quotable
“He will learn from it. Nobody feels worse than he does. It’s a matter of focus and finishing. He understands that.” — Bears coach John Fox, on Cooper.
First Published: September 25, 2017, 3:28 a.m.
