Biggest Winners and Losers from Monday Night Football Bears vs. Steelers

Week 9 of the NFL season concluded tonight with a Pittsburgh Steelers 29-27 wins over the Chicago Bears. The game had an electric, yet controversial ending, but the sportsbooks came out on top once again as the Steelers failed to cover as public favorites.

There were a few winners, and definitely some losers, in tonight’s game. Let’s break them down.

All odds listed are via WynnBET Sportsbook.

Bears vs. Steelers Winners

Mike Tomlin

Mike Tomlin continues to prove that he’s one of the best coaches in the NFL. With an aging quarterback that has a noodle arm and a defense that hasn’t been as dominant as years past, he still finds ways to win games.

Whether it’s running several reverses to the receivers, or utilizing Pat Freiermuth in the red zone, Pittsburgh continues to win close games. Hats off to Tomlin, lesser coaches would find ways to lose in these situations.

Sportsbooks

Sportsbooks are popping champagne and diving in their pile of gold Scrooge McDuck style after the Monday Night Football result. After a historic weekend which saw public bettors get massacred, the Steelers failed to cover as public favorites in the final game of the week.

If you were on the public side of tonight’s game, it was a tough pill to swallow after the Steelers looked like they were going to run away with it early. 68.6% of tickets and 69.6% of the money was on Pittsburgh to cover the 6.5-point spread tonight.

Pat Freiermuth

Pat Freiermuth has quickly established himself as a serious weapon on the Steelers offense. Our very own Peter Dewey gave out a Freiermuth anytime touchdown bet at +275 in his top prop bets article, and he ended up scoring two.

This will likely be the last week that we’ll get such good odds on the former Penn State tight end to find the end zone. He now has three scores in the last two weeks, and four total touchdowns this season.

Bears vs. Steelers Losers

Matt Nagy

Easily the biggest loser of the night. You can’t imagine that he will be back next season unless he turns things around in a hurry. His play calling is bland and his team is undisciplined.

The Bears had 12 penalties totaling 115 yards tonight. At least two of those penalties fall squarely on Nagy’s shoulder. One was an illegal formation foul that occurred directly after a timeout, and the other was a penalty for too many men on the field on defense.

A massive fall from grace after winning coach of the year in 2018.

The Referees

This was an all-time bad performance by the refs. I might be slightly biased due to having money on the Bears, but their inconsistent penalties plagued the night. The refs called a phantom foul on the Bears offensive line right when they had the ball on the goalline, ready to gain some momentum. Most notably, they called a taunting penalty when the Bears had the Steelers stopped on a critical third down late in the game. Watch the reply and judge for yourself.

Sure, the Bears were more undisciplined than the Steelers were all game, but when the penalty calls are this one-sided, you have to question the referees performance.