The division-leading Chicago Bears will be playing for their ninth straight win when they travel to the Keystone State to square off with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the first time ever at Heinz Field. The meeting will be the 27th in the series, but the first in seven years, which is the second-longest drought in the series (1950-57).
Currently one-half game out of the NFC's top playoff spot pending Seattle's December 5th game at Philadelphia, Chicago's current win streak is the team's longest since winning the first 12 games in 1985. Still owning the second-longest active win streak in the NFL this year behind Indianapolis (12), the Bears head into Pittsburgh having won three consecutive road games for the first time since 2001-02. Whether Chicago can extend that trend to four games could largely depend on which team wins the battles at the line of scrimmage as both the Bears and Steelers rank among the top 10 teams in the NFL in rushing and run defense. Over the last two seasons, Chicago and Pittsburgh have been the stingiest teams in the league in terms of scoring as no team has allowed fewer points in the NFL during that time than the Bears (16.4 pg) while the Steelers are second (17.0 pg). Both teams have also excelled at producing pressure with Chicago and Pittsburgh tied for sixth in the league over the last 28 regular season games with 56 takeaways while the Steelers are tied for fourth with 74 sacks and the Bears tied for sixth with 72.
Pittsburgh enters Sunday's game having lost three straight games while allowing an average of more than 26 points, including season-highs of 26 and 38 the last two weeks. The Steelers are 3-3 at home this season.
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Bears 17
Steelers 10
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Bears @ Steelers
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