Steelers Shocking 20-18 Upset Of Tampa Bay Comes By Way Of Surprising Defensive & Offensive Play

The Pittsburgh Steelers 20-18 upset over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday at Acrisure Stadium provided a much needed win, while also ending a four-game losing streak. To say that nobody expected the results is an understatement. The Steelers have struggled since TJ Watt was injured at the end of the Cincinnati Bengals game, including the offense sputtering week after week, and a QB change that many called for since camp opened. From the howls to fire Matt Canada at offensive coordinator, to the disgruntled faithful even barking for Mike Tomlin's demise, this club did a number on not only an NFC contender, but took out Tom Brady in what will most likely be his final game against the Steelers.

It was a perfect storm for Tomlin to do what he does best in this spot. Come up with a game plan and win.

Steelers strength under Tomlin shows when club is the underdog

Kenny Pickett and Najee Harris celebrate the game's 1st TD in the 1st quarter Sunday at Acrisure Stadium vs Tampa Bay. Photo - Karl Roser/Pittsburgh Steelers

As I noted last week, Tomlin has shown over the past decade that when his team is struggling and has nothing to lose against better clubs, the team can rise to the occasion and pull off big upsets. Sunday proved to be another one of those situations where the Steelers, like a wounded puppy, came limping into a game that showed them as 10-point underdogs to the Bucs, according to the Vegas oddsmakers. They don't build billion dollar casinos off the backs of winning tickets do they? According to Casears Sportsbook going into kickoff, 87% of the  money line wagers came in on Tampa Bay at -455 odds.

What's the old adage in situations like this?

Fade the public.

You really can't blame people for betting the way they did. The Steelers had a long list of starters out on the defensive side of the ball including Minkah Fitzpatrick, Cam Sutton and Ahkello Witherspoon, not to mention Sutton's backup, Levi Wallace. It's easy to understand why the opening line of 7.5 moved up to 10 near kickoff, before finishing at -9.5 in Tampa's favor.

Defensive Effort vs. Brady No Small Task

Pittsburgh Steelers DL Cam Hayward puts pressure on Tampa Bay QB Tom Brady. Photo - Karl Roser/Pittsburgh Steelers

Despite all those injuries, not even mentioning Pat Freiermuth's absence on the offensive side of things, the Steelers managed to put up their best defensive effort since the season lid-lifter at Cincinnati. The run defense was a wall, limiting the Bucs to just 78 yards on the ground, yielding a measly 2.9 yards per rush. As for the GOAT, the Steelers pass rush harassed Brady most of the afternoon, posting a pair of sacks. Given that the Steelers didn't bother to blitz Brady at all in the 1st half, you'd think it would have led to at least one touchdown drive for Tampa.

It didn't as the Buccaneers had to settle for three field goal drives and a 10-9 deficit after 30 minutes.

The club did pick things up on the pressure side in the 2nd half, forcing Brady to throw early, hitting him a total of five times Sunday, with most of those coming in the final 30 minutes of play. Finally, after allowing the Bucs to score their only TD late in the 4th, the defense had to come up with one more play to stop the game from being tied. On the 2-point play, Brady tried to find WR Chris Godwin, but Devin Bush came to the rescue, slapping the ball away.

For a change, it was nice to see Brady flustered against a club he's tortured over his career. The clock read 4:38 to play and you couldn't help feel the offense would give Brady the ball back.

Open mouth... insert foot.

Steelers Offense puts best foot forth in crunch time

Steelers QB Mitch Trubisky pilots offense in 2nd half vs. Tampa Bay. Photo credit - Karl Roser/Pittsburgh Steelers

In what can only be described as the team's most clutch drive of the season, Mitch Trubisky, subbing for an injured Kenny Pickett, stitched together a 10-play drive that yielded three 1st downs, of which two came on 3rd and long plays. The first was a 3rd and 15 pass to Chase Claypool for 17 yards to keep the drive alive. Then on 3rd and 11 on the next portion of the final drive, it was Trubisky who delivered as he was getting pressure from both sides, he stepped up and rolled left and zipped a dart to the near boundary in a spot only Claypool could get the ball.

For all the heat he's taken recently on dropping balls, Claypool made a fantastic grab, falling to the sideline for a gain of  28 yards and another monster 1st down just before the two minute warning.

Trubisky would seal things with rushing gains of 9 and 3 yards, completing the improbable win.

It wasn't a memorable offensive effort Sunday, but the team made it count when needed. Both QB's threw TD passes, Pickett's came on the Steelers opening offensive drive to Najee Harris for 6-yards. That was his first TD pass of Pickett's career. It also snapped a streak of first quarter failures for the offense in the opening frame dating back to last season's 16-16 tie at home vs. Detroit. A span of 15 games.

Now with a road game at Miami on deck and the Dolphins reeling at QB, could the Steelers stack a 2nd win and gain some hope to salvage the season as Watt prepares to return after the bye-week? Tell us below #SteelerNation in the comments section!