Steelers' Aaron Rodgers Gives Truthful Evaluation Of Pittsburgh's Offense

The Pittsburgh Steelers fell to the Green Bay Packers at home on Sunday night by a score of 35-25. While four-time MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers (101.5 passer rating) put together a decent stat line against his former team, the Pittsburgh offense wasn't good enough to carry its struggling defense. After a good first half, which saw Arthur Smith's offense record 19 points, the Steelers put up just six points in garbage time while the game was essentially out of reach. It felt as if the Packers' offensive and defensive units were on different levels as the game wore on. 

Rodgers himself spoke to the Pittsburgh media after the loss and was extremely honest about the offense's struggles, saying that the unit shot itself in the foot way too much throughout the contest.

"I just feel like we had some discipline issues and some penalties that were unnecessary. Then, you're not going to win a lot of games when we're so bad on third down," Rodgers said. "You're playing good teams, you need to score touchdowns, and we just stalled out in the high red zone."

The future Hall of Fame signal-caller hit the nail on the head in his press conference. His frustration with the game and desire to help his team be great show why Pittsburgh wanted him to come play in the Steel City. Unfortunately, even he couldn't bring everything together for the offense. As a team, the Steelers committed six key penalties for a total of 65 yards. The majority of them set Rodgers and co. back on offense. 

Additionally, the Steelers converted just one third down all night long on 10 tries. While the two passing touchdowns from Rodgers were nice, the offense needed to do more than produce four field goals against the NFC-leading Packers. The effort and productivity simply didn't meet the standard that Head Coach Mike Tomlin and Rodgers had in mind. 

Steelers' Defense Continues To Struggle 

Not only did the Steelers' offense underperform in key moments, but their defense also did not meet the standard of the head coach. For the second consecutive week, All-Pro defensive tackle Cam Heyward and co. allowed the opposing offense to score over 30 points and 450+ yards in total offense. That is not the type of product that Steelers fans are used to seeing out on the field. 

Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love threw for 360 yards and three touchdowns. After a slow first half that saw Packers Head Coach Matt LaFleur guide his team to just seven points, LaFleur was able to finally open up the playbook. The Packers put up 28 points in the second half. Whatever is going on in those defensive meeting rooms for the Steelers during the week has to be changed significantly. 

After allowing 30 or more points in four of the team's first seven games of the 2025 season, it is a miracle that the Steelers are still in first place in the AFC North at 4-3. While this loss was not a season-ender or anything close to that, it continued to remind the NFL that this is not your average Steelers team. While the offense is formidable, but not elite, the defense is not exactly stout. 

Now, the good news is that Pittsburgh will not have to meet Green Bay again, unless it is in February. The bad news is that there are plenty of tough offenses with elite quarterbacks in the AFC. Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, as well as Daniel Jones and the Indianapolis Colts, all could put fear into Pittsburgh in the postseason if they were to meet. Two of those signal-callers see the Steelers in the regular season, too. 

It will be up to Tomlin and Co. to help change their game on defense. Next up on the schedule for Pittsburgh is the third team on that list, the Colts, who are the only one-loss team in the AFC. If the Steelers come out flat at home in a week like they did tonight, especially on defense, it could get even uglier.

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