The Steelers headed into Week 3 as 7-point favorites against the previously winless Bears, but as has happened countless times in Mike Tomlin's tenure, they found a way to lose to an unquestionably inferior opponent. The Steelers looked like they were going through the motions for much of Sunday afternoon before the Bears' running back duo of Tarik Cohen and Jordan Howard mercifully put them out of their misery on the first drive of overtime.

The score -- Chicago eked out a 23-17 victory -- isn't indicative of just how lopsided the game was. The Bears controlled the time of possession (33:08 to 26:52), had more total yards (308 to 282), more than three times the rushing yards (220 to 70), averaged nearly two yards more per carry (5.8 to 4.1) and were better in the red zone (3 of 4 compared to 2 of 4).

Yes, we know, this is the NFL. Everybody gets paid, as the old saying goes, the implication being there are no easy games, professional athletes are a prideful lot, so on and so forth.  And perhaps there is some truth to this. But either the Steelers are the league's unluckiest perennial playoff team or there's something to the notion that they play down to -- and sometimes worse than -- their competition.

How often are we talking about the Patriots losing to teams they should beat? It's one thing to get punched in the mouth by the Chiefs on opening night -- the Chiefs might be the best team in the league. It's something else entirely to no-show against a Bears team that combined to score 24 points in its first two games and trailed the Buccaneers 29-0 last week.

An all-out no-show by the defense

More not-so-fun facts: Bears quarterback Mike Glennon attempted just 22 passes on the day, completing 15 for 101 yards. Of course, there's no need to throw when the Steelers' defense is incapable of stopping Cohen or Howard. But this stat is still amazing in today's pass-happy NFL:

Even more embarrassing for the Steelers: After missing 17 tackles combined in their first two games, the defense whiffed 15 times against Chicago, with two-thirds of those misses courtesy of Howard.

If one play served as a microcosm of Pittsburgh's afternoon, this is it:

Honorable mention: When cornerback Artie Burns (No. 25 below, near the top of the screen) inexplicably overran the hole on Howard's game-winning touchdown run:

The great irony is that Burns was one of the Steelers' highest-rated defenders, according to Pro Football Focus' grades.

And it's not like the Bears came into the game with a reputation for treading opponents; they rushed for 125 yards in the opener, a close loss to the Falcons, and managed just 20 yards on the ground last week after falling behind by four touchdowns to the Bucs. According to Football Outsiders' metrics, the Bears' rushing attack was replacement-level while the Steelers' rush defense was 11th overall. Both those rankings will change in the coming days.

A troubling trend of losing to losers

Taking a larger view, here's just how incomprehensibly inept the Steelers have been against terrible teams, dating back to 2009:

  • 2009, Week 11: 6-3 Steelers lose to 2-7 Chiefs, 27-24. Line: Steelers -11.5
  • 2009, Week 13: 6-5 Steelers lose to 3-8 Raiders, 27-24. Line: Steelers -15
  • 2009, Week 14: 6-6 Steelers lose to 1-11 Browns, 13-6. Line: Steelers -10
  • 2012, Week 3: 1-1 Steelers lose to 0-2 Raiders, 34-31. Line: Steelers -4
  • 2012, Week 6: 2-2 Steelers lose to 1-4 Titans, 26-23. Line: Steelers -6.5
  • 2012, Week 12: 6-4 Steelers lose to 2-8 Browns, 20-14. Line: Steelers -2
  • 2012, Week 14: 7-4 Steelers lose to 4-8 Chargers, 34-24. Line: Steelers -7.5
  • 2013, Week 4: 0-3 Steelers lose to 0-3 Vikings, 34-27. Line: Steelers -3
  • 2013, Week 8: 2-4 Steelers lose to 2-4 Raiders, 21-18. Line: Steelers -2.5
  • 2014, Week 4: 2-1 Steelers lose to 0-3 Buccaneers, 27-24. Line: Steelers -7.5
  • 2014, Week 10: 6-3 Steelers lose to 1-8 Jets, 20-13. Line: Steelers -4
  • 2014, Week 13: 7-4 Steelers lose to the 4-7 Saints, 35-32. Line: Steelers -3.5
  • 2015, Week 16: 9-5 Steelers lose to the 4-10 Ravens, 20-10. Line: Steelers -10
  • 2016, Week 6: 4-1 Steelers lose to the 1-4 Dolphins, 30-15. Line: Steelers -7
  • 2017, Week 3: 2-0 Steelers lose to the 0-2 Bears, 23-17. Line: Steelers -7

That's 15 losses over seven seasons to teams with a combined record of 25-89, which works out to a winning percentage of .219. The Steelers, meanwhile, were 66-46, a winning percentage of .589. The Steelers were also favored in every game.

The bad news: Things might get worse before they get better. The Steelers face the division rival Ravens in Baltimore next Sunday, and before you point out, "Hey, dummy, the Ravens got smoked by the Jaguars, 44-7, last week!" it's important to remember this: Since the 2011 season, the Ravens are 9-4 against the Steelers, including four wins in the last five games. 

There's more: After the Ravens game, the Steelers host the Jaguars and then travel to Kansas City to face aforementioned Chiefs, the same outfit that whipped up on the Patriots in New England and are currently undefeated.

Brighter days ahead?

If you're looking for some good news, there's plenty of that, too. 

For starters, the Steelers, for all their warts, remain one of the league's best teams. Just go down the list -- of Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, Le'Veon Bell, Martavis Bryant and the offensive line, only Brown has consistently played up to expectations. Once the others pick up the slack, the offense should resemble the same units that were among the league's best in recent seasons. 

There's also the defense, which is much improved, though you would have no way of knowing that by watching the Bears game. Rookie first-round pick T.J. Watt won a starting job in training camp and has been a pleasant pass-rushing surprise. He missed Sunday's game with a groin injury. Defensive end Stephon Tuitt, who missed the last two games with an arm injury, might be the best defender no one talks about. Pittsburgh could get both players back against the Ravens. The secondary is also much better thanks to the addition of veteran cornerback Joe Haden and the continued progress of Burns, the team's 2016 first-round pick. 

Finally, maybe Sunday's performance isn't the latest example in a recurring theme but a one-off resulting from legitimate off-field distractions. Remember: After the Steelers lost to the 1-4 Dolphins in Week 6 last season, they dropped the Pats, Ravens and Cowboys. Miami, New England and Dallas were all playoff teams, and Baltimore is a tough division rival. And from Week 11 through the divisional round, they reeled off eight straight wins before running into the Patriots in the championship game.

Pregame issues carry over to the field

On Sunday, the Steelers looked flat from the first whistle to the last, and that may have been because of what happened during the national anthem. The team didn't take the field but instead stayed in the tunnel. This was decided after a lengthy team meeting on Saturday night when players discussed how they wanted to protest remarks made by President Trump about the league on Friday evening.

Starting left tackle Alejandro Villanueva was a key part of the team's protest planning because Villanueva is a former Army Ranger who served in Afghanistan. According to ESPN.com's Jeremy Fowler, "[Teammates] wanted to accommodate Villanueva, who expressed during their 30-minute session that he didn't want to be singled out. Moving the protest off the field entirely was a way to keep solidarity without isolating an individual."

Except that Villanueva ended up being the only Steelers player on the field during the anthem, which was one of the biggest headlines coming out of Sunday's protests. His teammates were understandably surprised, and on Monday Villanueva offered some clarity to what happened.

"This national anthem ordeal has sort of been out of control, and there's a lot of blame on myself," Villanueva told reporters, via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Chris Adamski. ... "Every single one of my teammates is extremely supportive and extremely patriotic. I can honestly said that."

"I made Coach Tomlin look bad, and that is my fault and my fault only," he continued. "I made my teammates look bad, and that is my fault. ... Unfortunately, I threw (my teammates) under the bus, unintentionally."

"Every single time I see that picture of me standing by myself, I feel embarrassed."

Tomlin explained the team's decision ahead of Sunday's game, then spoke at length, and with great emotion, about it after the loss. Villanueva's teammates were also emotional and supportive -- including team leaders Roethlisberger and Cam Heyward -- before the left tackle spoke to reporters. 

"Distractions" have become a catch-all for the media when they're looking for a convenient explanation for whatever narrative their interested in pushing. And while we generally think distractions rarely explain anything in professional sports, this feels different. At the end of the day one of that matters -- as Bill Parcells once famously said, "You are what your record says you are." 

Plus, we'll know soon enough whether what happened in the hours before and after Sunday's game was a singular event or the latest data point on a graph that tells an already-compelling story about how the Steelers struggle against some of the league's worst teams.