The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2025 season can be broken down into two halves. A strong 4-1 start followed by a two-game losing streak. That’s true inside each game, too. Pittsburgh has no problem getting off to hot starts. Finishing the games are a different story. A departure from season’s past. But the numbers don’t lie.
Below is a quarter-by-quarter breakdown of the Steelers’ scoring and the point differential.
Quarter Scoring Point Differential
1st 40-26 +14
2nd 54-40 +14
3rd 24-27 -3
4th 57-82 -25
Pittsburgh shows no trouble getting out of the starting blocks. For the first time in a long time, the Steelers can score early. And the defense is keeping the score down in the first 30 minutes.
After halftime? It’s a different story. The offense has shriveled up, scoring its fewest points in the 15 minutes after halftime. Critically, Pittsburgh has had a tough time double-dipping. Scoring late in the first half has been routine but the Steelers can’t bookend that to begin the second half. Here’s the opening drives in each third quarter.
Jets Game: Three and out Punt (end of 1st half touchdown)
Seahawks Game: Punt (end of 1st half touchdown)
Patriots Game: Three and out Punt
Vikings Game: Three and out Punt
Browns Game: Touchdown
Bengals Game: Touchdown
Packers Game: Three And Out Punt (end of 1st half touchdown)
Three chances to bookend the halves. Three punts.
The defense is hardly off the hook. While the 27 points allowed are low, the quarter is when Pittsburgh’s began to show cracks. The fourth quarter is when the dam breaks. The Steelers have allowed more fourth quarter points than in any other two quarters combined.
Understanding the “why” is harder outside of the team’s general issues. Poor tackling, lack of team speed, ineffective blitzing and pass rush, and schematic problems that surround it all. But the difference in the first versus second half is stark and shows the Steelers aren’t able to effectively counterpunch after getting hit in the mouth.
Pittsburgh enters the game with a point differential that sits squarely at zero. 175 points for, 175 points allowed. Taking on Indianapolis threatens to put the Steelers in the negatives, a place the team has finished in three of the last four seasons.
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