Once again, the same defensive cracks showed up when it mattered most for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And Joe Flacco made the most of it in his home debut as a Bengal. The Steelers suffered a tough 33-31 loss sealed by Evan McPherson’s 36-yard field goal with seven seconds left. Even a last-ditch Hail Mary from Aaron Rodgers couldn’t change the outcome. The Steelers were short despite it all. After the game, coach Mike Tomlin couldn’t hide his frustration even if he tried. 

Part of the problem, Tomlin pointed out, was turnovers, which couldn’t really hide the defensive issues that saw the Bengals gain a total of 470 yards. “When we’re not getting it, we better secure it. I think it’s the totality of it,” he said in the post-game presser. “We work as a collective, and so if we’re not getting it, we certainly better protect it. And so we didn’t do a good enough job of getting it tonight. We didn’t do a good enough job of protecting it. When you’re minus two on the road, you don’t win a lot of those games.”

On 1st-and-10 in the second quarter, Rodgers’ pass intended for DK Metcalf was intercepted by safety Jordan Battle. But what hurt even more was how quickly the defense gave it back. Flacco needed just seven plays to march 76 yards, finishing the drive with a 29-yard touchdown to Tee Higgins. Minutes later, another interception by DJ Turner led to a 49-yard McPherson field goal before halftime. The Steelers’ defense struggled to respond throughout the game, missing 14 tackles, allowing 470 total yards, and failing to generate consistent pressure on Flacco.

Against what had been the NFL’s worst rushing team entering the week, the Steelers surrendered a season-high 142 yards on the ground. It was another reminder that this defense, the NFL’s highest-paid unit at $162.8 million, isn’t living up to its own “historic” billing. Defensive tackle Cameron Heyward didn’t sugarcoat it: “It’s not the secondary; that’s a cop-out. We got to stop the f—ing run. That’s as simple as that.” The Bengals averaged over ten yards per carry in the first half, with Chase Brown gashing the front for runs of 27 and 37 yards, both springing through gaps that linebackers Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson failed to seal. By halftime, Brown had 74 yards, already eclipsing his full-game totals from any prior week.

It was a glaring step back for a unit that had just started showing improvement against the run. In their previous two games, they’d held opponents under 100 rushing yards. But this time, they lost gap discipline, missed tackles, and got bullied at the line of scrimmage. Queen owned up afterward: “We weren’t being physical; we weren’t maintaining our gap. Starting with me, I got to be better.”

The Steelers’ pass rush also failed to disrupt Flacco. Facing a shaky line with two new guards, Dalton Risner and Jalen Rivers, they managed only two sacks. Just four days earlier, they had dropped Browns QB Dillon Gabriel six times. Flacco’s quick release and Cincinnati’s balanced attack made Pittsburgh’s defensive efforts look ineffective. Even T.J. Watt, usually a game-changer, was largely invisible until the closing moments.

But even before those turnovers in the second quarter, the Steelers had stumbled.

Aaron Rodgers and Co. got outplayed by the Bengals

A miscommunication between Rodgers and Jaylen Warren early in the first quarter created an accidental flea flicker. Rodgers handed the ball to Warren, who tossed it back thinking it was a designed trick play. It wasn’t, and the sequence ended in an incompletion and a stalled drive. “Yeah, it wasn’t supposed to be a flea flicker. We weren’t on the same page,” he said afterward, contradicting Tomlin’s brief explanation: “It was.” That early miscue became the first sign of internal miscommunications that plagued the Steelers all night.

While Pittsburgh’s game was riddled with errors, the Bengals executed the basics with precision. Flacco threw for 342 yards and three touchdowns, calmly leading scoring drives on seven of Cincinnati’s final eight possessions. Ja’Marr Chase looked unstoppable, hauling in 16 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown, while Tee Higgins added 96 yards and a score. Chase Brown contributed 108 rushing yards on 11 carries, and the Bengals’ ground game totaled 142 yards,  far above their season average.

Even when the Steelers clawed back late, Flacco never wavered, orchestrating a poised final march capped by McPherson’s decisive field goal. The Bengals’ balanced attack, quick release, and opportunistic defense, combined with Pittsburgh’s miscues, made them impossible to stop.

Rodgers threw for 249 yards and four touchdowns and found Pat Freiermuth for a 68-yard score on a busted coverage, but it wasn’t enough. Jaylen Warren had a career-high 129 rushing yards, while DK Metcalf, who started strong, caught just one pass for five yards over the final 53 minutes. A holding penalty wiped out a potential Warren touchdown, highlighting how offensive execution couldn’t compensate for defensive collapses.

For Tomlin, the loss extended a frustrating pattern. The Steelers are now 0-7 under him on Thursday Night Football against AFC North opponents. It didn’t matter that they entered 4-1 or that Rodgers played one of his sharper games, divisional matchups on short rest continue to haunt them.

But he remained pragmatic in defeat: “I’m not going to ride the rollercoaster, and I know Mike (Tomlin)’s not neither. We’re 4-2. Still first in the division. Got a couple home games coming up. Another Sunday night opportunity against my former team.” He also quietly surpassed Ben Roethlisberger for fifth all-time in NFL passing yards with 64,222, though the milestone came in a losing effort.

Next week, the Steelers will have to bounce back, because the margin for error is shrinking fast. Turnovers, defensive lapses, and execution errors must be addressed if Pittsburgh hopes to stay competitive in the AFC North.