The Pittsburgh Steelers head into a Week 8 matchup on Sunday Night Football after losing to the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 7. This was a game that Pittsburgh was supposed to win, but the defense could not find a way to slow down Cincinnati's offense as the group gave up 33 points in the loss. Typically when a team scores 31 points in the NFL, as the Steelers did last Thursday, it is good enough to win the game, but that was not the case as the defense raised a lot of eyebrows with an extremely concerning performance.
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Steelers' Mike Tomlin looks on during a loss on the road to the Cincinnati Bengals during the 2025 season.
Pittsburgh's defense had trouble against the Bengals when it came to stopping the run and slowing down the passing game. The group was completely outplayed, which is disappointing considering the amount of the resources the organization has poured into that side of the ball. The defense had been playing better in prior weeks, but the group took a large step back against Cincinnati. Head Coach Mike Tomlin held his weekly press conference on Tuesday, and he was asked about what went wrong when it came to slowing down the rushing attack.
"It's all really simple when you're not stopping the run," Tomlin said. "Usually man, people are out of their gaps if you're not being schemed. They won some of those instances, that's just a component of it though. Somebody can break the line of scrimmage and have an 8- or 9-yard run, you live to fight another down. They had a 25-yard run, a 37-yard run. That speaks to multi-layers of dysfunction. People out of their gap, and us not keeping the ball in a confined space once it gets to the second and third level."
Gap control is always the first thing to be brought up when a team struggles against the run, but it also falls on the second and third level of the defense. Gap control references the defensive front, which is the first line of defense against the run. The second and third level also need to make a play to contain the ball carrier, which Pittsburgh did not see a lot of.
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Steelers middle linebacker Patrick Queen (6) during 2025 training camp in Latrobe, PA.
Cincinnati ran the football 23 times for 142 yards. Pittsburgh's defense allowed over six yards per carry, with the number actually being higher than the recorded 6.2 yards per carry due to Joe Flacco kneeing the ball to ice the game. Pittsburgh allowed decent chunks consistently, while also giving up explosive plays to Chase Brown in the second quarter. Tomlin spoke more about the defensive struggles against the run.
"Those are two things that have our attention," Tomlin said. "There's a gap integrity component of it, and that's up front. Oftentimes, that's reflected by yards per carry. But the explosion play component of it is about netting them and keeping the ball in a constricted space, and we didn't do a good enough job of either."
It is easy to blame the defensive front whenever the run defense struggles, but Tomlin made it clear that the problem lies throughout the entire defensive unit. This is concerning as the coaching staff will now work to fix the entire defense when it comes to stopping the run, rather than one, controlled position group.
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The Steelers play the Las Vegas Raiders and Josh Jacobs during a home game in the 2022 season.
Steelers Must Improve At Stopping The Run Quickly
Pittsburgh's Week 8 opponent relies heavily on running the ball, which will present some issues for the defense. The Green Bay Packers have one of the best running backs in the league in Josh Jacobs, and the defense is going to need to find a way to slow him down if the team wants any chance of getting back in the win column. The next stretch of games is hard for Pittsburgh, and it is crucial the group gets off to a good start at home.
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