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Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Chicago Bears betting odds were the most sought after of the NFL games for gamblers on Tuesday, a full five days before Week 2 kicks off. This is also a late afternoon game.
The line opened at Pittsburgh -1 as the away favorite but has quickly moved to -3 nearly everywhere. The Las Vegas Hilton was still holding a line at -2 ½. It remains to be seen as to whether the line will move above -3. Thus far this has not occurred.
When betting the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Chicago Bears it is very important to understand there are major injuries on both sides. The Steelers will be without Troy Polamalu while the Bears will be without defensive juggernaut Brian Urlacher. Polamalu will likely be out anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks while Urlacher will miss the entire season.
The Steelers just barely squeaked by the Tennessee Titans much like a number of the other big favorites to win a championship did in Week 1 (i.e. New England, San Diego and to some extent, The Giants).
The last time the Steelers scored fewer than 20 points in a season-opening win was in 1979 when they won at New England 16-13 in overtime.
Hines Ward fumbled late in the fourth quarter, costing the Steelers a chance to win the game in regulation after the Titans recovered. The last time Ward lost a fumble in his career was in Week 9 of the 2006 season in a 30-21 loss to the Broncos.
Santonio Holmes set a career high with nine receptions. His 131 yards marked the second-highest total of his regular-season career.
Holmes' statistics were exactly the same as the Super Bowl, when he caught the winning 6-yard touchdown pass from Roethlisberger in the final minute to beat Arizona 27-23.
"It's nice to know we can win close games," said kicker Jeff Reed, whose 32-yard field goal with less than three minutes to play tied the game and led to overtime. "This is my eighth year here and I've been in a lot of close games, and we usually are on the up side of those."
As for the Bears, Jay Cutler threw a career-high four interceptions in his Bears debut. The last Bears quarterback to throw four picks in a game was Brian Griese in 2007.
Bears running back Matt Forte had 55 yards on 25 carries and now has six straight games with fewer than 100 yards rushing, dating to last season. He has two rushing TDs in that span.
In this series, the Pittsburgh Steelers have won the last three against Chicago dating back to 1995. The last game was won by 4 points. None of the three games were won by more than 5 points.
The Steelers are 6-13 ATS in their last 19 games after allowing less than 90 yards rushing in their previous game.
Bears are 1-5-1 ATS in their last 7 games after accumulating less than 90 yards rushing in their previous game.
The Polamalu injury has really factored into this line more than anything else as the Steelers should be a -5 ½ favorite heading into Chicago otherwise.
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