The Steelers haven’t had a lot to celebrate over the last two weeks, dropping two games in a row to the Cincinnati Bengals and Green Bay Packers, respectively. The latest loss was largely a copy and paste of the defensive woes from Week 7.
There was a small number of quality performances that should be highlighted, but far more poor showings that we’ll dive into in this week’s winners and losers.
Varsity
K Chris Boswell
The only guy on the team who is great every week. 4-for-4 on field goals, three of which were from 50+
yards. He is the MVP of the team.
WR Roman Wilson
It was good to see Roman Wilson finally have a big game. He caught a 45-yard pass from Aaron Rodgers on the Steelers’ first drive to set up a field goal, and caught his first NFL touchdown, albeit after the game was practically decided. He led the Steelers with 74 yards receiving, and hopefully this leads to him getting more looks on offense.
QB Aaron Rodgers
Rodgers threw two touchdowns on 219 yards passing. He now has 16 touchdown passes on the year, which ties Russell Wilson for the most touchdowns by a Steelers quarterback since Ben Roethlisberger retired.
Running Game
The Steelers were running the ball well, averaging over five yards per carry on 18 runs. They got away from it for whatever reason when it was working. Had they stuck with the run a bit more before losing their lead, or even when it was a one-score deficit, perhaps they would have been in better position in the fourth quarter.
Junior-Varsity
Defense
Much like the Bengals game, it’s much easier to just group everyone together here. As the great Josh Yohe said on X, at least we can all be happy T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward are getting paid, right? Especially after those “difficult conversations” Heyward had with his family before getting more money. Certainly wouldn’t want them to feel unappreciated to do next to nothing on the field. No sacks for Watt again. No impact plays from Heyward again. This is why, when guys in their late 30s complain publicly for more money, you stand your ground and move on.
The defense had just one tackle for loss all game, and it came from Darius Slay, who has no business starting in the NFL anymore. And once again, Nick Herbig barely played. Just 20 snaps for the dynamic edge rusher, while Alex Highsmith did nothing of note for the 45 snaps he was on the field for.
The Packers totaled 454 yards, which takes the Steelers’ two-week total to 924 yards surrendered. Almost 1,000 yards of offense by opponents over two games – unacceptable isn’t a strong enough word.
WR DK Metcalf
Metcalf had a touchdown and a solid game overall with five catches for 55 yards, but also dropped a perfectly thrown deep touchdown from Aaron Rodgers, which forced the Steelers to settle for another field goal. He also lost his temper and put his fingers in the facemask of a Packers defender, which sent the Steelers backwards 15 yards, turning 3rd-and-2 into 3rd-and-17, and that all but ended the game.
DC Teryl Austin
He shouldn’t be employed by the Steelers come Week 9. This is a guy who was fired by the Bengals because his defense was so terrible, but he’s Mike Tomlin’s yes-man and poses no threat, so he’s been kept around. There needs to be some sort of intervention from the Steelers’ brass to force Austin out and make Tomlin hire a real defensive coordinator who gets full control of the unit.
HC Mike Tomlin
The Steelers should have found a new head coach after 2024. You could make the argument that they should have moved on from Tomlin after 2023. But now more than ever, the sand needs to be at the bottom of the hourglass. The defense is legitimately one of the worst in the NFL. There is no innovation, there is no modern progression on that side of the ball. It’s the same issues that have been around for more than a decade. And yet, he’ll still be on the sideline Week 1 in 2026 and however many more years he wants to be.
