4 crazy takeaways from the Steelers loss to the Bears

Sunday's loss to the Chicago Bears puts the Pittsburgh Steelers in a tough spot for the rest of the season if they hope to make the playoffs. The Steelers had a shot right up until their last offensive drive but fell just short, 31-28. This was a strange game on many fronts and after watching it again and going over the numbers, here are our big takeaways.

It's time to worry about the pass rush

Aside from the T.J. Watt strip sack, the Steelers pass rush was nonexistent against the Bears. This was despite multiple injuries in the Chicago offensive line. Bears quarterback Caleb Williams had 35 pass attempts on Sunday and that strip sack was the only hit he took.

Offensive personnel packages made no sense

Quarterback Mason Rudolph and the five starting offensive linemen played 100 percent of the offensive snaps. But after that, things got weird. If you take out DK Metcalf, who played 85 percent of the snaps despite coming out for injuries twice, no offensive player played more than 68 percent of the snaps. This level of personnel groupings couldn't be ideal for Mason Rudolph, making his first start of the season.

Can't put the defense on the coaches

Yes, there were some questionable groupings, especially for short yardage, but overall, this game felt more like the players fell short and the game plan was sound. Multiple times the Steelers offensive turned the ball over, which is the time when you really pay attention to how the defense picks them up and this didn't happen on Sunday.

Ignored the middle of the field

Based on passing charts, Rudolph didn't even attempt a pass between the hashes. This is despite the Bears being minus all three of their starting inside linebackers. This was a huge misstep by the Steelers' offensive coaches to not attack the Bears defense where they were the weakest.

This article originally appeared on Steelers Wire: 4 crazy takeaways from the Steelers loss to the Bears