Victory floated away from the Chicago Bears like the cold wind blowing across Soldier Field, and with it went a chance to open up a comfortable cushion in the NFC Central.
Ahead by a touchdown with six minutes left, with a makable field goal ready to increase the lead, the Bears' pass defense disappeared as quickly as Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Neil O'Donnell could find an open receiver."This was a very big win. We're on the road and no one gave us a chance to win. It's just a start of a lot of good things to happen," said O'Donnell after completing a club-record 34 passes in 52 attempts as the Steelers rallied and beat the Bears 37-34 in overtime Sunday.
More importantly for the Steelers, who are now a game up in the AFC Central after a rocky start, many of O'Donnell's best passes converted third downs into firsts. As a result, the Steelers are no longer winless in Chicago, enjoying their first victory in the Windy City in 12 games.
"We did have some big plays on third down, but we have that type of offense," said O'Donnell, who passed for 341 yards.
"You don't want to be third-and-11 most of the time. But I just tell the guys, `Give me some time and I'll find the receivers.' I think everyone did a pretty good job."
First, O'Donnell sent the game into overtime with a 10-yard, fourth-down touchdown pass to Ernie Mills with 1:06 left in regulation. Later, the same duo connected on a key third-down pass in overtime to set up Norm Johnson's winning 24-yard field goal - 8:19 into overtime.
"Neil was great," said Steelers receiver Yancey Thigpen, who tied a career-high with 10 catches for 108 yards. "He was poised back in the pocket. Our receivers ran great routes. They played a lot of zone coverage and we just found the voids."
O'Donnell converted three third downs in the final drive of overtime. In all, the Steelers made good on 12 of 21 third downs against the Bears, who entered the game ranked third-from-last in the NFL in third-down defense.
"That's killing us, that's ridiculous. It's no secret to anybody we've got to find a way to get better at it," a disgusted Bears coach Dave Wannstedt said.
The Bears, their four-game winning streak ended and their division lead down to one game, took a 34-27 lead with 6:14 left. Alonzo Spellman deflected O'Donnell's pass and linebacker Barry Minter picked the football out of the air and went 2 yards for the touchdown.
Kevin Butler, who made his first 16 field-goal attempts this year, missed a 44-yarder that would have put the Bears up by 10 points with 3:53 left.
"I hit the ball well, it just drifted right. It wasn't a shank. I hit it good and I thought it was down. It was an opportunity we had and couldn't capitalize on it. It was definitely an important kick," Butler said.
That gave the Steelers the opening they needed. Pittsburgh (5-4), which got three touchdowns from Erric Pegram, took a one game lead over Cleveland and Houston in the AFC Central.
The Bears (6-3) also had five turnovers. Erik Kramer threw three touchdown passes to run his league lead to 21, but was also intercepted three times after throwing only four all season before Sunday.