Coming off a big win against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 9 at Acrisure Stadium, the big question for the Pittsburgh Steelers ahead of their Week 10 matchup on the West Coast against the Los Angeles Chargers was if they could find consistency and stack wins.
They did not Sunday night, particularly on offense, as the Steelers were blown out in ugly fashion, 25-10.
In the loss, 41-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers had his worst performance as a Steeler, and arguably one of the worst performances of his career. Rodgers was intercepted twice, misfired on a number of throws and made some very head-scratching decisions that ultimately derailed the game for the Black and Gold.
He took the blame after the loss that dropped the Steelers to 5-4 and said he just flat-out wasn’t good enough.
For former NFL quarterback and current ESPN analyst Alex Smith though, Rodgers’ night seems like a bad sign of things to come, especially with the 21-year veteran making the type of mistakes he did Sunday night.
“I believe he did look old at times, but then he is making these mistakes that are rookies mistakes, right?” Smith said of Rodgers, according to video via ESPN. “The safety in your own end zone in this defensive battle, right? Throwing the ball high over the middle, and then he did not play well. This is a clean pocket that is a wide-open NFL receiver. This is a throw that you should make 10 outta 10 times. We throw it 10 feet at the rim. A receiver almost comes down with this.
“And then this third and sixth, just chuck and duck. He feels the pressure doesn’t want to take a hit, right? Pedestrian doesn’t begin to describe what this was like last night. Like, it put me to sleep.”
There’s no denying Rodgers was bad against the Chargers. It started right away, too.
He misfired on a deep shot to DK Metcalf on a third down on the first drive of the game, a throw that if he hits winds up in a touchdown off a scramble drill. Later, he missed a wide open Jonnu Smith on a play that should have been a layup for the future Hall of Fame quarterback.
If he hits Smith in stride, it could have gone for a touchdown, too. That’s how open Smith was.
Rodgers missed high over the middle looking for Metcalf later in the game and was intercepted. He also underthrew a deep shot to Calvin Austin III that was knocked down.
The safety he took was his worst mistake of the night though and it wasn’t close. Instead of getting rid of the football and allowing the Steelers to punt, he tried to extend the play. Rodgers backed into his own end zone, allowing Khalil Mack to get to him after beating Troy Fautanu on a second effort.
Rodgers owned the bad decision and said he needed to just throw the ball at a receiver’s feet and live to fight another down, but he didn’t in the moment and it cost the Steelers. His mistakes all night hindered Pittsburgh’s offensive attack.
It just wasn’t a good night for Rodgers at all, even with the garbage-time touchdown pass to Roman Wilson.
He wasn’t alone as the offensive line couldn’t hold up in protection, the run game was a bit inconsistent at times, and receivers simply did not get open. But Rodgers’ misfires and mistakes were very concerning.
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