As I said last week, I expected the Steelers to struggle against the Bengals on Thursday Night Football in Cincinnati. After all, Mike Tomlin had a horrendous record on the road with limited rest heading into the game. 

So, when Bengals’ kicker Evans McPherson banged home the winning field goal with seven seconds remaining—his fourth of the game—to lead his team to a 33-31 victory, I was not at all surprised. Disappointed? Absolutely. Shocked? Honestly, I would have been more shocked if they had won. 

What the Steelers displayed on Thursday night was one of the worst defensive performances I have ever seen from them, especially considering the opposing quarterback was 40 year-old Joe Flacco, who arrived in southwest Ohio just eight days prior via a trade with their northeastern counterparts, the Cleveland Browns. 

Dubbed the “IcyHot Bowl” and the “Unc Bowl”, the game on Thursday featured two 40+ year old quarterbacks, with 41 year-old Aaron Rodgers suiting up for the Steelers opposite Flacco. Amazingly, the combined 81 years in age did not prevent an offensive explosion, as Rodgers and Flacco combined for 591 passing yards and seven touchdown passes. 

As well as both quarterbacks played, the scoreline was an indictment of both defenses. The Steelers adopted the interesting strategy of “let us not cover the reigning triple-crown winner in Ja’Marr Chase”, who caught 16 of 23 targets for 161 yards and a touchdown. His running mate, Tee Higgins, also gave Teryl Austin’s secondary nightmares, hauling in six passes for 96 yards and a score of his own. Cincinnati finished the game with 470 total yards on 72 plays, moving the ball at a 6.52 yards-per-play pace. 

The Bengals’ defense was not much better—they were, simply, opportunistic. Despite allowing 31 points and 396 yards on 54 plays (7.33 YPP), the difference in the game ended up being two Aaron Rodgers’ interceptions. The first was just an awful throw that was nowhere near the intended receiver. The other, however, was not his fault, as the defensive back ripped the ball away from DK Metcalf. 

It is very hard to win games in the NFL when you lose the turnover battle, especially when you generate so little pressure on the quarterback. Sure, Flacco was sacked twice, but those sacks were the only instances of him being pressured that I can recall. He had all day to throw, despite the Steelers having pass rushers such as TJ Watt, Alex Highsmith, Nick Herbig, and Cameron Heyward. 

The secondary was even worse. They allowed 342 yards passing to Joe Flacco, who had eight days to learn the playbook. Jalen Ramsey, one of the Steelers’ big offseason acquisitions, allowed a passer rating of 136.8 on balls thrown in his direction. That is atrocious, as the highest possible rating is 158.3. Similarly, another offseason acquisition in Darius Slay allowed a passer rating of 118.8 when targeted. Bear in mind that Slay and Ramsey were added with the main goal of neutralizing Chase and Higgins. 

After the game, Ja’Marr Chase alluded to the predictability of the Steelers’ defense, something that has been mentioned before by the likes of retired wide receiver Julian Edelman. How has the team not adjusted to make their defense less predictable? How were there no defenders within ten yards of Chase on the Bengals’ game-winning drive?

Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin should have been fired years ago. The defense is making $179 million this year, by far the highest-paid unit in the league. If the defense continues to get carved up (which seems to be likely), I will fire him myself. 

It would have been very nice to be 5-1 with the next three games being against the Packers, Colts, and Chargers. However, that fifth win did not come to fruition, despite the offense’s best efforts. Mike Tomlin and co. are now staring 4-5 in the face, and their great start could be erased just like that.