Mike McCarthy Calls Out Steelers' Germie Bernard For Mistakes In Unexpected Fashion

The Pittsburgh Steelers had a strong offensive performance against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 5. A solid 34-22 victory will go a long way in building confidence inside the team's building. Unfortunately, there were some wide receiver injuries that popped up, leading to an unexpected hero of sorts during the contest. Rookie Germie Bernard hauled in six catches for 80 yards. It was the best performance of his young career, and he will look to continue to build off of that success in Week 6 and beyond. He seems to have finally earned the trust of quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Pittsburgh has been longing to have a legitimate second option in the receiving game for some time. Injuries and incorrect personnel decisions have prevented that from happening of late. Thankfully, if Sunday's win was foreshadowing anything, the Steelers may have their next young stud in Bernard. He will only continue to get better as he progresses through his first professional season.

Despite the very good showing versus the Colts, Bernard still has some things to work on. It was rather surprising on Monday when Head Coach Mike McCarthy actually called the wide receiver out slightly during Monday's press conference. Bernard still has some things to improve upon as a young pass-catcher in the NFL.

"Yeah, football comes easy to him," McCarthy said. "You know, I think there are some young guy mistakes he made yesterday, but you could see it coming."

McCarthy wanted to make sure that everyone knows how he is approaching Bernard's development. There were evidently things that came up when reflecting on the contest that irked him regarding the rookie's play. Overall, though, the Steelers' head coach did compliment the young wideout after initially talking about him making some mistakes.

"You know, he's acclimated very well to the offense — the ability to play all three positions, you know, he sticks his nose in there in the run game too, so I've been very very impressed."

McCarthy has always been very clear that he wants his wide receivers to be skilled enough to play all over the field. Bernard has proven that he is capable of doing so, which has only helped his case inside the locker room. Rodgers may have found a new favorite target on Sunday. Fans should be excited about the potential of the University of Alabama product.

A follow-up question came in for McCarthy about the game of football coming to someone easily. He went into detail about what he looks for in this area. It's clear that Bernard has proven throughout each week that he is ready to be called upon.

"I just think the ability to go through the process," McCarthy stated. "You have a classroom operation. The communication goes there. You take it to the walkthrough and then when you get your chance in live action, you know, his process has been pretty smooth."

Pittsburgh will continue to work Bernard in and the recent injuries are only going to give him more opportunities. He is a shift player who has the ability to separate — something that the offense has not really had consistently lately. The goal for the coaching staff now will be getting the rookie fully up to speed so he is not making silly mistakes that could affect the outcome of a drive, or even game. The good news is that McCarthy didn't just have bad things to say; there were several positives.

Steelers Could Use A Breakout Rookie Campaign From Bernard

Pittsburgh is 3-2 through five weeks and the offense is starting to put up a ton of points. The emergence of Bernard will only help Rodgers moving forward. Trust is not easily gained when it comes to the future Hall of Fame signal-caller, so the first-year pass-catcher will have to continue to get better each and every day. If he performs like he did on Sunday, the Steelers may have just found their wide receiver of the future in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft.

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