Tillman saves the day - and maybe a whole lot more

Perhaps by definition, it seems unreasonable, or at least unfair, for a tipping point to arrive so early in an NFL season.

But you could argue that no team faced greater local expectations than the Bears coming into 2009, no coach carried more burden than Lovie Smith, and no player more pressure than Jay Cutler.

Considering the disaster in Green Bay, you have every right to wonder if a loss to Pittsburgh might have been a confidence-shattering, 0-2 start from which none of them would recover.

And for that reason, Charles Tillman may yet go in the books as the man who saved the Bears' season.

Twice.

On consecutive plays.

Late in the Bears' 17-14 victory over the defending Super Bowl Champion Steelers on Sunday at Soldier Field, Tillman shed his frustration over terrible field conditions, not to mention facing a superb receiving corps, and the Bears cornerback made a couple of huge plays.

Still battling to get into game shape after back surgery allowed him only a few practices before the season began, Tillman spent his afternoon chasing around Santonio Holmes, Hines Ward and Mike Wallace, often trailing them, sometimes getting beat, and desperately trying to find his footing.

That, he never did, but he never gave up, and with Pittsburgh in a second-and-12 from the Bears' 35 with 3:34 remaining in a 14-14 game, Tillman slipped trying to plant.

He barely got up in time to knock Wallace out of bounds just short of the first-down marker.

"You can't ever give up on a play because you don't know what the next play will be, what it might mean,'' Tillman said, as he collected his clothes and walked to the trainer's room. "I'm not a quitter.''

If Wallace gets the first down there, Pittsburgh's going to take a lot of time off the clock and move into chip-shot, field-goal range, while having another opportunity to put 7 points on the board.

The play became bigger when Ben Roethlisberger went right at Tillman on the third-and-2 that followed.

From the 25, Holmes beat Tillman to the end zone and Roethlisberger went over the top, but Peanut made up ground at the last moment, grabbing a piece of his jersey as Holmes made his cut.

He then got his arms up and, if he didn't deflect the ball, at the very least got enough of Holmes' vision that the ball went right through both their arms.

"He ran a great route, but I'm not surprised,'' Tillman said. "He's the Super Bowl MVP.

"I had my hands full. I was just trying to use everything God gave me there to stop that play, and I'm lucky that I have long arms.

"I don't know if I deflected it or just bothered him. I thought I felt it nick my arm, but I don't know. The important thing is he didn't catch the football.''

The ball fell harmlessly in the corner of the end zone, and instead of a TD and a 21-14 lead, Pittsburgh had to settle for a 43-yard field goal attempt in the pouring rain.

"He tipped it just enough,'' Holmes said. "It just knocked it a hair off its course and it didn't land where I thought it would.''

When Jeff Reed missed the field goal, the contest was still tied at 14-14 and back in Cutler's hands with a little more than three minutes remaining.

"I always hope we get a chance, always think we're going to get the chance,'' said Cutler, whose rebound from the disaster in Green Bay was expected but still impressive.

"(Roethlisberger) is paid for drives like that, but Peanut came up with a big one. The defense gave us a shot, and that's what we expect.

"Time in, time out against Green Bay, 4 turnovers and they still gave us a shot. Our defense is going to hang in there until the end.''

After a pair of three-and-outs by the Bears' offense to start the game and two long Pittsburgh drives, it looked like the Steelers might be in for an easy day.

But after getting thumped up and down the field, the Bears finally got some pressure from Alex Brown early in the second quarter, leading to a Tillman interception that stopped the Steelers - and suddenly the field wasn't so tilted.

Brown, who later injured his ankle but was walking OK in the locker room after the game, also had 2 sacks and was the only Bears defender to disturb Roethlisberger.

It was just enough to keep Big Ben from having a big game, and it gave Tillman a chance to do his job.

"That's an unbelievably good football team we beat today,'' Tillman said. "I mean, you know they're the champs and you know they're good on film, but when you get on the field with them, that's an incredible football team.

"I'm really proud of our guys for hanging in there. We didn't give in when they were giving it to us pretty good, and after what happened last week.

"I love that about our team. We didn't go away.''

Certainly Tillman didn't, and without a couple of his saves, well, eulogies would have been delivered all over Chicago today.

Instead, optimism reigns, and with Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck suffering a rib injury Sunday and the Bears headed to Seattle, Super Bowl talk will be back in vogue.

It wouldn't have happened without some perseverance from Charles Tillman.

And we may look back on it as the tipping point itself.