Week 9 Thoughts and Synopsis: My Obsession with Najee Deepens

Final Score: Steelers 29, Bears 27

I would say this game took about 29 minutes off of my life. Not to mention the amount of sleep I lost. I had to do TWO New York Times Crosswords to calm myself down before I could fall asleep. This week we had three incredible performances: Najee Harris (loml), Pat Freiermuth and Chris Boswell. The biggest story from this game, sadly, was the officiating. I watched this game via Fubu. Should this blog just be me reviewing all the different ways I get the game??? I thought Fubu was pretty good, but it costs $64 a month so I got to remember to cancel my subscription before next Sunday.

This week's disclosure is that I didn't watch the third quarter that closely because my favorite Bravo show, Below Deck was on. Sorry. That being said, I had a tiny lil fan watching the game with me this week.

I may have to buy her a Steelers jersey for Christmas....

Quick rundown of the game: The Steelers came out looking so good, despite ESPN playing a truly horrible Let's Go Steelers jingle. We scored on the opening drive with a running play by Najee Harris. Then early in the second we went up 14-0 with a touchdown pass to Pat Freiermuth. After an embarrassing performance by our secondary the Bears scored a field goal right before the half. Halfway through the third they kicked another field goal, making it 14-6 Steelers. Then with two minutes left in the third Pat Feiermuth again scored a beautiful touchdown from the corner of the end zone.

At this point I'm thinking, we're good, I will be in bed by 11 pm. I was very, very, very wrong. Within five minutes the Bears had come back with a touchdown, making it 20-13. Chris Boswell then came in and scored a 54 yard field goal making it 23-13 and again making me think I could go to bed with eleven minutes left in the fourth. Boswell wasn't done yet, though. On the returning kickoff the Bears fumbled the ball and Boswell recovered it. He is now the first player to ever make two 50+ yard field goals, score a game winning field goal AND recover a fumble in one game. Then of course, of course, because it's the Steelers, Ray-Ray McCloud fumbled the punt return and the Bears took it in for a touchdown. It is now 23-20, six minutes left in the game, and 11 pm (which feels like midnight thanks to the time change).

The weirdest and most talked about play of the game came with 3 minutes left. Cassius Marsh, who was cut by the Steelers recently, sacked Ben Roethlisberger no third and eight and then appeared to look towards the Steelers bench before walking off the field. The referee called him for taunting and the Steelers got a new first down. First of all, I don't even think the taunting rule really applies here, even though it is apparently up the referees definition of taunting. Second of all, and perhaps more controversial was what happened between Marsh and the ref.

I will be curious to see if anything more comes of this interaction. Anyway, here comes Chris Boswell again with a 52 yard field goal, making it 26-20 with just under 3 minutes to play. The Bears looked great on their final drive of the night behind Justin Fields. Their only issue was they gave the Steelers too much time. They scored a touchdown with one minute and 46 seconds left, giving them the first lead of the night after a field goal. With 27 seconds left, you guessed it, Chris Boswell came in and kicked the game winning field goal from 40 yards.

My god. I would really like to know why the Steelers feel the need to make every game as close as humanly possible. I think I need to start invoicing them for my therapy sessions.

Thoughts while watching the game: Are the Bears so irrelevant just because they are bad or because they are in the NFC? The last time I knew the name of a Bears player was Brian Urlacher (not included Khalil Mack). Wow I completely forgot that the Bears owner, Virginia McCaskey is a true hero of mine. I mean just look at her game day swag:

Honestly just living her best life. I would like to be reincarnated as her.

Looks like another week where my obsession with Najee Harris grows. Here's why:

1) He had a great game, scoring a touchdown and running for 62 yards.

2) He's hilarious

3) What. a Decent. Human. Being!!! I mean are you kidding me with this?!?

I'm already hoping that Najee is a Steelers for life. It's not that rare to see a man of his integrity in the NFL, but I do think it's pretty rare in his rookie year.

Did anyone else see the Bears player whose jersey ripped while we tried to tackle him? I've never seen that before and I can't seem to find a clip of it online...was I hallucinating?

Who knew Andy Dalton was on the Bears?

A big congratulations to Mike Tomlin, who is now in second place for most wins by a Steelers coach at 150.

More Pittsburgh Updates: I got to watch my first Penguins game this week. Did ya'll know Hulu has live sports?! Anyway, I watched the Penguins lose in an overtime shoot out to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night. The Wild tied the game with 2.2 seconds left in the game, oddly reminding me of the Pittsburgh Steelers typical games. Sidney Crosby and head coach Mike Sullivan were both in COVID protocol. Kasperi Kapanen stepped up and scored his first hat trick for the Penguins, but sadly our effort fell short.

Good news from the sports world: I just want to do a quick shoutout to the fans who showed up to the Mars hockey game last night to support the female varsity goalie. Last week the high school student was bullied and taunted by fans until she was crying. This week it was a different story:

More of this please!