The Pittsburgh Steelers played one of their better games defensively on Sunday night against the Los Angeles Chargers, but unfortunately their offense couldn’t get out of their own way, struggling pretty much from start to finish to find any rhythm.
Los Angeles win 25-10, but the scoring was 15-3 entering the fourth quarter and was 25-3 under five minutes to go in the final frame before Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers connected with receiver Roman Wilson on a 27-yard touchdown strike with just over two minutes remaining in the game.
Following the clash, Rodgers put the blame on himself for the team’s performance, crediting how the defense played and saying it was his worst performance so far this season and that he’s got to play better for them to record victories moving forward.
"A lot of stuff wasn't working," Rodgers said postgame. "We were bad on third down. I was just a little bit off - missed DK [Metcalf] early, could've been a big play. Little high to Jonnu [Smith]. But yeah, we didn't run the ball super effectively in the first half. I missed, obviously, some throws, for sure. And then we weren't getting guys open and couldn't put it all together. Times guys were open, I missed the throws that I usually make.”
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Rodgers finished the game completing 16 of 31 passes for 161 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. He missed several key throws, including an early one in the first quarter to an open Metcalf downfield that likely would've resulted in an easy touchdown for Pittsburgh, but he overthrew him by a wide margin.
"Our defense played really well tonight. Offensively, we were pretty bad," Rodgers added. "We've got to find a way to get open on third down, and I've got to find a way to hit 'em, because that was just some bad ball.
"I expect to play great every single week, and this was not my best performance," he continued. "I've got to play better than this for us to win. Whatever it takes - if it's better checks, if it's better throws - I've got to play better. I will, but we've got to bounce back."
Despite the rough outing, Rodgers made it clear that neither he nor the Steelers are in panic mode. He emphasized that Pittsburgh, now 5-4, still sits atop the AFC North - though the Baltimore Ravens are closing the gap.
"We're 5-4. We're leading the division," Rodgers said confidently.
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