Fantasy Bowl Playoffs: 76 Pittsburgh Steelers vs 85 Chicago Bears

 
76 Pittsburgh Steelers vs 85 Chicago Bears

Hello everyone and welcome to Soldier Field where the 76 Pittsburgh Steelers will try to complete the circle and make the final four an all Steelers / 49ers championship round.  Standing in their way, the champions of Super Bowl XX, the 15-1 Chicago Bears.  Its been argued for a long time, which franchise owns the better defense.  Well here today, in the cold and snow, we have the Steel Curtain going head to head with that vaunted 85 Bears defense.  Today, we get to see which one is better.  If the Steelers win they'll head to San Francisco to play the 94 49ers.  If the Bears win, they'll host the Rooney Conference championship.

Steelers key to victory - Stop Payton.  Walter Payton is the whole Bears offense.  If the Steelers can shut him down, the Bears will have trouble moving the football with just Jim McMahon.

Bears key to victory - Force turnovers.  This Bears defense can make a lot of big plays.  Force fumbles, rush the passer, pick off passes, this defense loves to force turnovers and they need to do more of the same today to give their offense a short field.

Weather:  25 degrees, light snow, 10 mpg wind

1st Half: 

The Steelers start out on their own 22.  The Chicago crowd is extremely loud and the Steelers commit a false start, backing them up to their own 17 now.  The Steelers try to run, but the Bears bottle it up.  On 3rd and 13, Bradshaw hits Theo Bell for a 21 yard gain and a first down, quieting the crowd a little.  The running game gets going a little with a 13 yard gain by Harris followed up with a 10 yarder.  The Bears defense gets tougher against the run, shuts it down and the Steelers are forced to punt inside Bears territory.

The Bears return the punt to their own 33 and start there.  McMahon tries for a couple passes, but neither find their mark and the Bears end up going three and out. 

The Steelers next drive, they continue to try to establish the run with Harris and Bleier picking up 3 and 4 yards here and there.  Bradshaw finds Stallworth for a 6 yard gain on a 3rd and 5.  Bradshaw continues the short passes to counter the Bears blitzing and pick up good yardage down the field.  The Steelers however get a holding penalty and it sets them back a bit. They reach the CHI 23, but are inches short for a first down.  Noll sends out Gerela for the 40 yard attempt and its good.  12 plays, 59 yards, 8:08 drive

Steelers 3 - Bears 0

The Bears return the kickoff to the CHI 44.  Great starting field position, but the Bears go backwards with a busted running play and a false start penalty.  On 3rd and 14 McMahon throws a screen pass to Payton and he breaks it upfield for a huge 18 yard gain and first down.  Mike Wagner made a potentially TD saving tackle on the play.  The play riles up the crowd, but the Bears drive ends with a sack by Andy Russell.  The Bears punt the Steelers down to their own 16.

Bradshaw comes out again with a couple short passes to get them out of their own end.  The Bears spread out their defense to counter the short passes and Bleier pounds up the middle for 12 yards.  The Bears are simply being out coached right now.  The Bears tighten up and come up with the stop.  The Bears get punted to their own 27.

The Bears realizing its not going to come easy start to pound away with their own running game.  Payton flies up the middle for 18.  Shuey for 4 and Payton for another 5.  The Bears are dominating the line of scrimmage right now and are simply out muscling the Steelers.  McMahon can't scrambles for a 15 yard gain to the PIT 17.  McMahon completes a pass to Willie Gault and he's tackled at the PIT 2.  They hand off to Payton on 1st and goal and he gets into the end zone for the touchdown!  9 plays, 68 yards, 5:33 drive

Steelers 3 - Bears 7

The Steelers start out on their own 31 with just over 2 minutes left in the half.  The Steelers try to run their two minute offense, but the Bears defense is all over them.  Pittsburgh gets one first down before punting the Bears to their own 11.

The Bears try their two minutes offense and try to get at least into field goal range, but can only make it to the CHI 33 before time expires.

2nd Half: 

The Bears get the ball first in the second half and return it to the CHI 39, but the offense goes backwards on three plays and punts.

On their first possession of the half, the Steelers get back to mixing short passes with running plays.  Bleier picks up 16 yards on two running plays.  Bradshaw runs a play action and finds John Stallworth downfield for a 16 yard gain to the CHI 36.  After a false start penalty, Bradshaw connects with Lynn Swann for a 9 yard gain, but its not enough for a first down and the Steelers will attempt a 46 yard field goal.  The kick is up and its no good!  The Steelers come up empty.

The Bears get the ball in pretty good field position now and run the ball for a first down, but are stopped on their second set of downs after a sack by LC Greenwood on 3rd and 9.

The Steelers start out on their own 31 and try to run the ball, but the Bears aren't having any of it and stuff them on three straight plays to force a punt. 

Starting out on their own 36, the Bears get a big play on another screen pass to Payton on a 3rd and 12.  Payton flies up field for a 22 yard gain to end the 3rd quarter.  The Bears are moving the football well now, but just when things were looking so good McMahon is picked off by Glen Edwards who dives in front of Willie Gault for the big interception. 

Momentum is on the Steelers side now.  The Steelers get a holding penalty on 1st down, but a Bleier 10 yard run and a 13 yard scramble by Bradshaw gets them the first down to the 50 yard line.  The Bears start to crowd the line and Bradshaw audibles into shorter passes as the Steelers move into field goal range again.  Bradshaw lobs a pass to Cunningham for a 16 yard gain on a play action.  He then fires an 11 yard slant to Theo Bell to the CHI 5.  Noll decides to stick with the hot hand and Bradshaw lobs one to the corner of the end zone for Swann and he comes down with it for the Steelers touchdown!  11 plays, 77 yards, 6:34 drive

Steelers 10 - Bears 7

The Bears start off on their own 15 after a holding penalty on the kickoff.  With only 6:45 left, the Bears know they may not get many more chances.  A quick hand off to Matt Suhey picks up 16 yards and gets the Bears going.  McMahon finds Ken Margerum for 18 yards on a big 3rd and 10.  McMahon is then sacked by Mike Wagner for a 7 yard loss and the Bears fail to convert on 3rd and 4th down.  They turn it over on downs at their own 42 with just 1:53 left.

The Steelers run the ball on three straight plays, with the Bears calling timeout after each.  It brings up a 4th and 2 at the CHI 34 with 1:38 left.  Instead of punting the Bears deep, Coach Noll decides to go for the win right here and now.  He runs up the middle with Harris, but comes up short and the Bears take over on downs!  The crowd is going insane!  A gutsy, aggressive call, but the Bears get the ball back at the CHI 33 instead of deeper in their own end.

The Bears have second life now McMahon hits Willie Gault downfield for a 24 yard gain to the PIT 46.  The Bears hurry up the line and catch the Steelers off sides, McMahon has a free play and he goes deep down field for Emery Moorehead who is all alone.  No one is going to catch him and he rumbles into the end zone for the touchdown!  The crowd is deafening and Soldier Field is rocking!  4 plays, 67 yards, 0:45 drive

Steelers 10 - Bears 14

Kevin Butler boots the kickoff threw the end zone and the Steelers start off on their own 20 with 47 seconds and three timeouts.  Bradshaw throws a short out pass to Randy Grossman for 14 yards, but he fails to get out of bounds and the Steelers burn a timeout. 

Bradshaw finds Bleier downfield, he picks up a big block from Stallworth and runs for a 29 yard gain to the CHI 37 with just 33 seconds left.  Bradshaw works the sidelines and gets them down to the CHI 21 with 16 seconds left.  The fans are on their feet and noise is incredible with chants of "DEE-FENSE".  The Steelers try to catch the Bears off guard and run a draw play to Harris who picks up 5 yards before being brought down at the CHI 16 with 11 seconds left.  Steelers use their second timeout. 

The Steelers need to get a touchdown and the Bears know it.  Theo Bell runs an out pattern and turns upfield, but steps out of bounds before reaching the defender at the CHI 6. 

With 5 seconds left, this could be the last play of the game.  Bradshaw takes the snap, pump fakes to Bleier standing at the 1, then scrambles to his right.  Richard Dent has broken through and is in hot pursuit.  Bradshaw fires to the end zone and its CAUGHT by Bennie Cunningham for the TOUCHDOWN!!  Unbelievable!!  There is no time left on the clock and the Steelers are headed to the semifinals!  The Bears fans are in shock.  Some are throwing snow balls onto the field.  The only noise that can be heard is the Steelers celebrating in the end zone.  8 plays, 80 yards, 0:47 drive

Steelers 17 - Bears 14

All I can say is, WOW, what an ending!  John Elway eat your heart out.  Bradshaw drives the Steelers 80 yards in the final 47 seconds for the winning touchdown to upset the top seeded Bears.  Bradshaw may not have the most impressive stats, but he comes up big in the big games.  Chuck Noll owes him a big thanks after going for it on 4th down and basically energizing the Bears who then drove down the field and scored the late go ahead TD.  It was a defensive battle till the 4th quarter, then all hell broke loose.  So it will be an all Steelers vs 49ers final four.  The 94 49ers will host the 76 Steelers, while the 78 Steelers will host the 89 49ers.