The Pittsburgh Steelers and their reeling offense return to the comforts of Acrisure Stadium for an NFL Week 3 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 27.
Coach Mike McCarthy’s unit has scored just
one offensive touchdown in two games so far in 2026, and angst has begun to mount on other fronts as well.
Here’s a look at what to watch for in the important early-season matchup between AFC North division rivals.
Which five players will start on the offensive line?
In his Monday news conference, McCarthy emphasized the need for the group to build cohesion. It has struggled in run blocking so far and permitted four sacks of quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the Week 2 loss at New England.
“Offensive line play I think we really touched on this a little bit in training camp,” McCarthy said. “I think in hindsight you go back, and you look how many days did we line up with the same offensive line? We worked a lot of different combinations. No excuses, but they need continuity, they need reps, they need consistency.”
When players hit the practice field Wednesday, first-round pick Max Iheanachor and veteran free agent addition Brock Hoffman were working exclusively at right tackle and right guard, respectively, signaling that they may replace tackle Dylan Cook and guard Spencer Andrerson, who were working in swing roles.
It’d be unfair to blame those two alone for what’s happened. In fact, as USA TODAY noted earlier in the week, Cook has actually graded out well with evaluators like Pro Football Focus.
The signal that McCarthy seems to be sending, however, is that he’d prefer to invest practice and game reps in the players he most wants to gel as a unit, big picture. And the team didn’t spend a first-round pick on Iheanachor for him to watch from the bench if the coaching staff feels he’s ready to get in there to continue his development. So we may have a debut forthcoming soon, no matter what the undrafted Cook has done.
Rodgers would not seem to have much of a problem with that if and when the decision is made.
"I like Max a lot," he said Wednesday. "I think he's got a real bright future. He's very — in one sense he's raw because he hasn't played football that long. The other sense, he's got a beautiful setand you don't say that about every tackle. There's nice sets, and then there's beautiful sets. I had two of the prettiest sets of all time at left tackle for me, in Chad Clifton and David Bakhtiari. There's just something about the way those guys set that created very little lanes for a pass rusher, and I think when he hones his skills, Max is going to have a chance to be a longtime staple on the offensive line here."
How will the Joey Porter Jr. situation resolve?
The window for a long-term contract with the fourth-year cornerback has closed. The Steelers don’t negotiate deals in season, so the question of his future, at least in Pittsburgh, is off the table for now.
What’s unresolved is how he’s going to handle the present. The Steelers continue to signal that they expect him to return to the lineup soon. Conditioning alone – not the back injury the team has cited since training camp – was the stated reason for his limited practice participation early in the week.
“I thought he had quality work yesterday, hit the target on what was planned for,” McCarthy said Thursday.
So if Porter doesn’t play this week, then there’s little room left for him – or anyone else – to deny that this is an in-season holdout with major implications for the Steelers’ season.
Porter is the team’s top corner, so a protracted contracted-related absence would change the makeup of the defense. Asante Samuel Jr. would become a full-time starter in his place, and the team would have otherwise diminished depth beyond him.
Perhaps one or both sides find a way to muddy the waters for another couple of weeks, but it really feels like Porter’s status this week will be the most telling data point yet on how fractured the relationship truly is.
How will offense navigate Michael Pittman Jr.’s injury?
The key acquisition of the offseason missed the Week 2 game against New England with a foot injury. The veteran receiver, who played six productive seasons with the Indianapolis Colts before a March trade sent him to Pittsburgh, battled a foot issue in training camp and the preseason as well.
McCarthy has said the injuries are unrelated. Nevertheless, his absence was conspicuous. Not only did the Steelers miss his production, but DK Metcalf had another bad day.
The hope was that Pittman could help draw some coverage away from Rodgers’ No. 1 option on the outside, and it’s now unclear how soon that plan will bear fruit.
Pittman was non-committal when asked about his status Thursday. So it seems fair, at this point, to wonder when he’ll next be close to 100% healthy, even if he plays.
The spotlight would then fall to fellow receivers Roman Wilson and Germie Bernard. The former failed to step up in similar situations last year. The 2024 third-round pick caught just 12 passes for 166 yards and had five catches for 28 yards in the loss to the Patriots, so the pressure will be on to step up his production.
The latter caught four passes for 35 yards on a single first-half drive but was otherwise quiet. It will be interesting to monitor how the second-round pick in the April draft continues to develop if he does receive extra game reps.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is it Max Iheanachor time for the Steelers? Will Joey Porter Jr. drama finally end?
