Sunday night was the first time this season Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers looked his age for an entire four-quarter game and the result for Pittsburgh was predictable.
The AFC North-leading Steelers lost 25-10 and moved back to the pack in the division at 5-4. Rodgers was intercepted twice, completed a season-low 51.6 % of his passes and averaged only 5.19 yards per attempt, another 2025 personal-worst.
“Sunday night was what it was, but I have no long-term reservations about his ability to play the position and play the position at a high level for us,” Tomlin said Tuesday of the notion Rodgers had one bad night. “I’m not going to chalk it up to an off night, but there are no long-term concerns.”
Short-term concerns about protecting the division lead are percolating.
Pittsburgh plays the Cincinnati Bengals, Chicago Bears, Buffalo Bills and rival Ravens in Baltimore the next four games.
Last season, the Steelers were 8-3 on Nov. 21 and finished the season 10-7 to sneak into the playoffs. The regular season ended with four consecutive losses in which Pittsburgh was held to 17 or fewer points. The Ravens ended their season with a 28-14 wild-card playoff win.
The challenge for Tomlin was to find the offensive combination that could help relieve pressure from Pittsburgh’s defense. Enter Rodgers and No. 1 wide receiver D.K. Metcalf, acquired in the offseason from the Seattle Seahawks.
Metcalf has five TD catches and 32 receptions for 502 yards. When teams erase Metcalf — he has five receptions for 41 yards combined in the past two games — the Steelers aren’t consistently showing a counter punch.
Fans are clamoring for a heavier workload from running back Jaylen Warren.
Among other missing ingredients evident in Los Angeles on Sunday night was third-down offense. Pittsburgh has converted on seven times on third down in 33 chances over the past three games.
“We win third downs, we’ll get Jaylen (Warren) more touches,” Tomlin said. “It’s as simple as that. Jaylen was having the trajectory of a good day in L.A. But we didn’t convert enough third downs for you to really, really feel it.”
–Field Level Media
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