Sunday night was tough for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They were up 16-7 at halftime, and then the whole thing fell apart. The defense completely collapsed in the second half, giving up 28 points to the Green Bay Packers. This cost them Week 8 with a 35-25 loss. Yes, the Steelers are still leading the AFC North at 4-3, but it doesn’t feel like it. This was the fourth time that Pittsburgh allowed a 30+ score this season to its opponents. This is a wake-up call for Mike Tomlin to tighten things up before it gets worse.

The Packers just tore the Steelers’ defense. Green Bay racked up 454 total yards, averaging 7.2 yards per snap. Pittsburgh let tight end Tucker Kraft and quarterback Jordon Love run the show the entire night. While Kraft looked unstoppable, snagging seven passes for 143 yards and two scores, Love played like an elite QB. He completed his season-best 29 of 37 with 360 yards and three touchdowns. He even completed 20 straight passes against Mike Tomlin’s defense. While this was the story of the defense, Rodgers and his offense couldn’t get anything done either.

“We’ve just got to be better in all areas, and it starts first with the positions that we put players in and so as coaches, as players, as all of us, we own it,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “We’ll be better. We have to be.”

Pittsburgh averaged 5.2 yards per run on Sunday. They were somehow not able to punch the ball into the end zone. In 6 scoring drives, only 2 were converted to touchdowns. While the offense could run the ball in the first half, the second half was a whole different story. Before the last meaningless touchdown late in the game, the Steelers only managed 38 total yards in the entire second half.

Another important stat to know: Kicker Chris Boswell drilled three field goals from 50 yards or more on Sunday, marking the third time in his career he’s accomplished that feat, the most by any kicker in NFL history, per ESPN Research. It was also just the second time any kicker has hit three 50-plus-yarders at Acrisure Stadium, with the first also belonging to Boswell in Week 11 of the 2024 season against the Ravens.

This highlights how heavily the Steelers’ offense is relying on their kicker, Chris Boswell, rather than consistently finishing drives in the end zone. While Boswell’s accuracy and leg strength are impressive, the fact that he attempted and made multiple long field goals suggests the offense is stalling out on drives, struggling to convert in key situations, or move deep enough into scoring range for touchdowns. In short, it’s a sign of offensive inefficiency masked by the elite special teams’ execution.

It felt like the team had completely lost rhythm, even when Aaron Rodegrs was putting in every ounce of his sweat out there. Rodgers, the 41-year-old veteran, completed 24 of 36 for 219 yards. His completion rate was 66.7%. It shows how much of football is still left in him. Despite his convincing outing, the Steelers’ run game couldn’t manage turnovers. This led to frustration from Rodgers.

Aaron Rodgers points out concerning issues after Sunday’s loss

“Disappointed,” Rodgers said via the Steelers’ website. “Disappointed I didn’t play better; that we didn’t play better. Especially in the second half. I just feel like we had some discipline issues and some penalties that were unnecessary, and then you are not gonna win a lot of games when we’re so bad on third down,” Rodgers said. “Playing good teams, you need to score touchdowns. And we just stalled out in the high red zone.”

The Steelers’ defensive front held Green Bay to 94 rushing yards at 3.6 yards per carry but failed to register a sack or consistent pressure. Despite Jordan Love’s quick-release offense, Pittsburgh’s star-studded line looked flat, even on blitzes. Still, the bigger issue came from the secondary, which struggled badly in coverage behind the pass rush.

Honestly, it wasn’t just the offense and defense that cost the Steelers this one. The team was in full meltdown. Between the dropped passes, dumb penalties, and some brutal missed calls from the refs, everything seemed to go wrong. Many Steelers fans even voiced about the ref’s decisions. Some “obvious” calls were ignored by the officials in the second half. Pittsburgh ended up with six penalties for 65 yards, and every single one of them came at the worst possible time.

DK Metcalf‘s unnecessary roughness flag for poking Quay Walker killed that crucial third and long late in the game. Sure, the Packers had that one big holding call that pinned them deep at their own 10-yard line, but overall, Pittsburgh hurt themselves their own way.

The defense kept bailing out with penalties that kept drives alive, and a few offensive pass interference and roughing calls damaged the momentum. Even the post punts cost them, giving extra chances and better field positions to Green Bay. It was just sloppy football from the Steelers all around.