The Pittsburgh Steelers dropped a 20-3 decision against the New England Patriots on Sept. 20 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass to fall to 1-1 in 2026.
It was an ugly afternoon for first-year coach Mike McCarthy's offense. The team was held to just 235 yards of offense, with many of those coming late in the game after it had fallen behind by multiple scores.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers finished his day with 23 completions on 39 attempts for 187 yards, a bobbled interception and a lost fumble that New England returned for a fourth-quarter touchdown that sealed the game.
Here are some of the top takeaways from the loss.
DK Metcalf shut down by Patriots
All eyes were on the former Pro Bowl
receiver with running mate Michael Pittman Jr. out because of a foot injury.
For the second week in a row, he came up small. Playing across from top Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez, Metcalf finished with four catches for 27 yards across nine targets. He also had a crucial drop on a 3rd-and-3 play with the Steelers trailing by seven points late in the third quarter.
Metcalf got a vote of confidence from quarterback Aaron Rodgers earlier in the week when the quarterback vowed to “keep feeding him” after Metcalf caught four of 10 targets for 40 yards in Week 1 against the Falcons.
He followed through on his promise by keeping Metcalf’s target share elevated, but the production simply wasn’t there. The Steelers need more from a guy playing on a five-year, $150 million contract, especially with the ground game struggling.
Running game accomplishing little
The Steelers totaled 91 yards on 23 carries against New England. Lead back Jaylen Warren was held to 43 yards on 11 carries. Top backup Rico Dowdle had 22 across seven touches. Reserve Travis Homer padded the stats late with a 14-yard run that made the numbers look better on paper than they were in practice.
Other than that, there were almost no long runs to speak of. Warren's long for the day was 10 yards. That, too, came in garbage time. And Dowdle had a long run of just six yards. Beyond that, it was a lot of one-, two- and three-yard gains from these guys.
The Steelers' offensive line needs to open up more holes quickly or the offense risks becoming one-dimensional with the passing game. Coach Mike McCarthy is known as a pass-first coach, so a shift away from the run was expected going into the season. This isn't going to be good enough to keep opposing defenses honest, though.
Big plays allowed in run defense
The Patriots, meanwhile, totaled 136 rushing yards on the afternoon as TreVeyon Henderson and Rhamondre Stevenson were able to generate some explosive plays.
Henderson scored New England’s first points with a 39-yard touchdown run, and Stevenson set up a field goal with a 24-yard jaunt in the third quarter.
New England finished with an efficient rushing average of 4.9 yards per carry, but the numbers were even better than that before the Patriots started handing off to kill the clock late.
It was a discouraging turn for a Steelers defense that showed promise in holding All-Pro running back Bijan Robinson to fewer than 100 yards and a lack of explosive plays in the Week 1 win against Atlanta.
Rodgers shows trust in Germie Bernard
The future Hall of Fame quarterback famously prefers to work with veterans, but he seemed to take a liking to Bernard, the rookie who was drafted in the second round this past spring and saw extensive action Sunday in the absence of injured veteran Michael Pittman Jr.
Rodgers targeted Bernard four times on Pittsburgh’s most promising drive of the first half. The Alabama product delivered with four catches for 35 yards that put his team in scoring range before a strip sack of Rodgers cost the offense 37 yards. Unfortunately for the Steelers, they weren't able to get the ball to him for the rest of the game.
Bernard’s superior size should have him in the mix increasingly moving forward. Roman Wilson is the No. 3 receiver on paper, but the 6-foot-1 Bernard has about three inches on him, making him a more viable outside target if and when Pittman and top receiver DK Metcalf are injured. He’s a player to keep an eye on this week as the team hopes to get clarity on when Pittman may return.
T.J. Watt builds on disruptive Week 1
The star Steelers linebacker followed up his two sacks and game-winning interception return for a touchdown last week against the Falcons with 1.5 sacks and a tackle for loss against New England.
With 3.5 sacks through two weeks, he’s already halfway to his frustrating season total of seven from 2025.
That’s a very encouraging sign for a Steelers defense that has had to deal with a decline in production from the former defensive player of the year the past couple of years.
It appears first-year defensive coordinator Patrick Graham’s early willingness to move Watt around the formation is paying dividends. That’s another trend to watch in the coming weeks.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 5 takeaways from Steelers' Week 2 dud vs. Patriots, including DK Metcalf
