Good day for ex-Illini Mendenhall

Rashard Mendenhall had 20 family members and friends sitting in Soldier Field seats Sunday.

When the Pittsburgh running back caught his first pass of the season and just the third of his young career - while sitting on wet grass - the former Niles West High School and University of Illinois star had three not-so-friendly Bears bearing down on him.

The 5-foot-10, 225-pound Mendenhall quickly popped up on his feet, eluding three diving defenders. He cut cross field and turned quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's bailout screen pass into a 13-yard gain.

"It was kind of a low pass so I fell down and caught it," Mendenhall said. "If you're going to be in the NFL you got to get up and start running, so that's what I did."

Two plays later, the 2008 first-round draft choice (23rd overall), who missed all but four weeks of last season with a fractured shoulder, burst 39 yards. He was finally pushed out of bounds by Bears safety Kevin Payne at the 2.

On the next snap, Roethlisberger soared into the end zone to give the Steelers a one-touchdown lead with 5:31 left in the third quarter.

"Great blocking upfront," Mendenhall said of his career-long run, which bettered the Steelers' entire rushing output of 36 yards the previous week against Tennessee. "There was a seam. Kirby (Wilson, running backs coach) was telling us to just watch the double team, so I did that and was able to pick right off that."

In the end, however, it wasn't a happy homecoming for Mendenhall (3 rushes, 39 yards), who grew up in Skokie, as the Steelers yielded 10 unanswered points in the fourth quarter and lost 17-14.

At least Mendenhall acknowledged that his first game in Soldier Field was special.

"Yeah, definitely, being back home and then having family out there (in the stands)," he said. "But you want to get a 'W'."

Reed it and weep: Steelers kicker Jeff Reed took full blame for his team's defeat after he missed field-goal attempts from 38 and 43 yards out.

The latter would have given the Steelers a 17-14 edge with 3:18 left in the fourth quarter.

Instead, quarterback Jay Cutler marched the Bears into field-goal range, where Robbie Gould drilled the winner from 44 yards out with 15 seconds to go.

Reed refused to blame the newly sodded Soldier Field turf, which absorbed rain during the game.

"It hurts me because I let them down," said Reed, referring to his teammates. "I'm not fighting the whole game. I'm over there with the kicking net warming up, waiting for my opportunity to shine. I let them down twice. There's no excuse for it. Slip or no slip. It doesn't matter. Obviously the field wasn't bad enough for Robbie to miss. He hit it dead middle, and I was off today."