The Pittsburgh Steelers are not happy after Week 8. The first quarter of their Sunday Night Football game against the Green Bay Packers saw Aaron Rodgers and co. beat up their NFC North counterparts. It felt like Rodgers would score a win against his former team a few years after being traded.
Alas, the Steelers completely collapsed in the second half. While the offense was sluggish at times in the second half, the Pittsburgh defense completely bottomed out against the Packers. Jordan Love erupted for three touchdowns after halftime as the Packers beat the Steelers 35-25 to hand them their second straight loss.
After the game, Steelers pass rusher Cam Heyward did not mince his words about the team. Heyward bluntly said that “There’s not a lot of fight in us right now,” and that they got too caught up arguing about penalties instead of focusing on the game.
“We can’t let penalties or stuff that goes against you affect your heart in the game,” Heyward said, per Joe Rutter. “When you’ve got a love affair with this game, there has got to always be a buy-in.”
It seemed like the Steelers would run away with the win after the first half. They were up 20-7 after two quarters, with Aaron Rodgers scoring a touchdown. While Pittsburgh struggled to get into the endzone, a great performance from Chris Boswell meant that the Steelers still got points as long as they got close enough. It also helped that Packers kicker Brandon McManus was missing his own field goals as well.
However, something changed in the second half. The Packers came out guns blazing, with Love finding his groove after the break. Tight end Tucker Kraft caught two of Love's touchdown passes, while Josh Jacobs found the end zone once. On the other hand, the Steelers couldn't break out of their slump. Rodgers threw one more touchdown, but they were once again limited to field goals for the most part.
With the loss, the Steelers dropped to a 4-3 record. If not for a Cincinnati Bengals loss to the Jets, Pittsburgh would have relinquished its division lead. With the Ravens getting healthier by the day and the Bengals still looming as the immediate threat, the Steelers need to be on their A-game in the coming weeks.
