Ever since Joe Burrow went down with that injury, the Cincinnati Bengals‘ offense has been all over the place: Confused, inconsistent, you name it. But Thursday Night against the Pittsburgh Steelers? It looked the best in the league. Sure, Joe Flacco and Ja’Marr Chase were clicking beautifully, but the real headline wasn’t actually Cincy’s offense.

It was Mike Tomlin’s team’s defense getting absolutely picked apart. The Steelers’ defense struggled to contain Flacco and Chase. And with the top offenses lining up next, the Steelers legend James Harrison bluntly admitted that Pittsburgh isn’t going anywhere with this defense.

“With the 26th, 28th ranked defense, we’re not gonna go nowhere,” Harrison said on his podcast with Joe Haden. “These offenses we’re gonna face in the next four, five weeks, they ain’t turning the rock over like that. They’re doing things more effective than anybody that we’ve played yet to date.

“If we come out there playing like we’ve been playing the last six, seven weeks, we’re gonna get the band struck up on us. We’re gonna get embarrassed. They’re gonna dog walk us. Drop your nuts. Put your foot in the ground. Stand for something. We can’t even bust a grape in a fruit fight right now. Right now, we trash. Flacco went out there and pulled a belt out on our a–. Put belt to a–.”

On top of that, the former Steelers running back, Jerome Bettis, echoed Harrison’s statement. He stopped by the Dan Patrick Show, and noted that, “Nobody’s playing well, let me say that. The back end, they’re not playing particularly well. The front seven… they’re giving up too much yards in the run game. This is one thing the Steelers never gave up, was 100 yards rushing.”

The Steelers’ defense against the Bengals was bad without any doubt. The team ranked 28th in total defense heading into Week 7, and they played just like that. Flacco was starting just his second game for the Bengals, but he still played backyard football with the defenders. We’re talking 31-of-47 passes for 342 yards and three touchdowns.

Overall, the Steelers’ defense allowed the Bengals to pile up 470 total yards. Chase had a career game as the wideout led the passing game with 16 receptions for 161 yards, etching his name in the franchise history for his 16 receptions. As for the rushing attack? Same story. Before Week 7, the Bengals had the worst rushing offense. But against Pittsburgh, they ran for 142 yards, thanks to Chase Brown, who rushed for 108 yards on 11 carries.

And now, their next three weeks look like this: Week 8 vs the Green Bay Packers, Week 9 vs. the Indianapolis Colts, and Week 10 vs. the Los Angeles Chargers. So, when Harrison said that the Steelers won’t go nowhere with this offense, he’s got a lot to back up his statement.

Jalen Ramsey pushes back at Joey Porter Jr.’s officiating comments

The Steelers’ defense was shaky all night, no denying that. But their secondary took the real beating. After all, the Bengals tallied 328 passing yards, Chase amassed 161 yards on 16 receptions, and Tee Higgins caught 6 receptions for 96 yards.

But if you ask Steelers corner Joey Porter Jr., he’d probably point the finger at the refs for a few of those calls that helped the Bengals light up Pittsburgh’s defense. “We’ve got the guys to do it, they’ve just got to let us play,” he told Brooke Pryor of ESPN on X-Twitter after the game. “I wasn’t a big fan of the calls today with the officiating, but it is what it is. It’s football.”

Sure, he later admitted that the Week 7 loss was all the defense’s fault, but it was too late. Fast forward to now, and the Steelers’ Jalen Ramsey just pushed back at Porter’s comments on officiating.

“We have to play better, starting with myself, when the opportunity presents itself. It’s part of the game,” Ramsey said. “When you have receivers that are superstars in the league, you know that they get away with shit like that. It is what it is.”

The game was surely frustrating for Porter Jr., but at the end of the day, it was the Steelers’ defense that allowed Flacco and Chase to light them up as the Steelers lost 33-31.