If the Steelers won the coin toss in overtime Sunday afternoon in Chicago, they would have deferred and kicked off to the Bears.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who was seen looking into the sky before the coin toss, told reporters Wednesday that coach Mike Tomlin was going to let the Bears have the ball first.
"You've got one quarter to play, if you will," Roethlisberger said. "Just trying to figure out, if my receivers had to look into the sun, what was the best way to go about it? All I knew coach said he wanted them to have the ball first."
In the NFL, if a team scores a touchdown on its first possession of overtime, they win. It's somewhat of a moot point because the Bears won the coin toss and took the ball and scored a touchdown to win, 23-17.
Roethlisberger said after practice Wednesday he was a bit surprised by the decision. He didn't recall the exact conversation he had with Tomlin before the coin toss, but Tomlin did tell him the defense was hot.
That's true. The defense did not allow a point in the third or fourth quarters. Still, for a team with Roethlisberger at quarterback and a offense with all sorts of star power _ although they were mostly silent in the game _ it's a decision that will be greatly discussed.
Former Detroit Lions coach Marty Mornhinweg became vilified after the Lions won an overtime coin toss in a 2002 game against the Bears, kicked off and lost because the Bears scored on their first possession.
The rules were slightly different then. The first team to score won the game. Now if a team kicks a field goal on its first possession, the opposing team gets the chance to go on offense.
