NFL - Pittsburgh Steelers at Chicago Bears

Sunday, Sept. 20 NFL week 2 - 4:15 p.m. Eastern, CBS

The opening weekend of NFL football highlighted the current differences between the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears, who missed the playoffs last season. Neither the Steelers nor Bears played as well as they would have liked in their openers, but Pittsburgh found a way to win its opener, while the Bears found a way to lose, which are results those teams' fans saw often last season.

The Steelers and Bears will see whether those trends will continue when they play in a CBS regionally televised game from Soldier Field at 4:15 p.m. Eastern Sunday. The early line lists Pittsburgh as a 3-point favorite at Chicago.

Chicago, as a 4.5-point underdog, suffered an especially tough loss Sunday night, falling 21-15 at Green Bay. After taking the lead with 2:38 to play, the Bears gave up a quick Packer touchdown drive to fall behind again. New Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler then threw the last of his four interceptions in the game with 1 minute remaining to allow Green Bay to seal the win. Cutler did have one touchdown pass and threw for 277 yards for the Bears.

Pittsburgh, as a 6.5-point favorite, won its season-opener last Thursday at home against the Tennessee Titans, 13-10 in overtime. The Steelers-Titans game was close throughout, as Pittsburgh led for only 34 seconds of the entire game until kicker Jeff Reed's 33-yard field goal won the game for Pittsburgh in overtime. The Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw for 363 yards and a touchdown, but he also had two interceptions. Pittsburgh's running game was not a factor, as the Steelers rushed for only 36 yards on 23 carries against the Titans.

Chicago lost three key defenders to injury in its game with Green Bay, including Brian Urlacher, Pisa Tinoisamoa, and Trumaine McBride. It's unclear whether any of the three players will return against for the Steelers-Bears game.

Dating back to last season, Pittsburgh has won 7 of its last 10 games ATS, while Chicago is 2-7-1 ATS in its last 10 games.

Against NFC teams last season, Pittsburgh was 3-2 outright and 2-3 ATS, including a 27-23 win against Arizona in Super Bowl 43. Chicago, meanwhile, was 2-2 outright and 2-2 ATS against the AFC last season.

As a road favorite last season, Pittsburgh was 2-1 outright and 1-2 ATS. As a home underdog last season, the Bears were 1-1 against the spread and 1-1 outright.

The Steelers and Bears last met in 2005, when the Steelers defeated Chicago, 21-9, as a 6.5-point home favorite. That Pittsburgh win was the first of eight in a row to end the season for the Steelers, culminating in a Super Bowl 40 victory against Seattle, 21-10. Chicago also has played in the NFL championship game recently, losing Super Bowl 41 to Indianapolis, 29-17.