It always seems to be one step forward, two steps back for the Pittsburgh Steelers, especially in their recent run of roller-coaster performances.
One week after a dominant win over the Indianapolis Colts, the Steelers went on the road for a Week 10 Sunday Night Football matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers. They proceeded to lay a major egg in a 25-10 drubbing in which the offense was a disaster and Aaron Rodgers played one of the worst games of his career.
Now the 5-4 Steelers get back into action in Week 11 in AFC North play needing a bounce-back performance, this time against the Cincinnati Bengals. Remember, the Bengals beat them just a few weeks ago in a whacky Thursday Night Football game in Cincinnati.
The Steelers return home to Acrisure Stadium looking for a get-right game to get things turned around and maintain their lead in the AFC North with the Baltimore Ravens hot on their heels.
Where do the Steelers stand in the power rankings across the NFL landscape entering Week 11? Below is a chart of aggregate power rankings from several major outlets.
At one point — just a few weeks ago, in fact — the Steelers were a fringe top-five NFL team, comfortably in the top 10 of power rankings across the NFL landscape.
But my, how fast things can change.
After the loss to the Chargers, the Steelers are plummeting down power rankings.
For CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco, things are spiraling for the Black and Gold.
“For a bit, the offense was good and the defense was awful. Now the defense is better and the offense did nothing against the Chargers,” Prisco writes of the Steelers in his power rankings. “The Ravens are coming fast, too.”
The Steelers’ offense led the way early in the season as the defense tried to figure things out. But now, the roles have seemingly reversed. While the Steelers did allow 23 points defensively Sunday night, that unit wasn’t the reason for the loss. The Steelers played well defensively for long stretches in the primetime game but wore down from being on the field so much.
The Chargers had the football for nearly 38 minutes on the night. That’s never a winning formula for any team when you lose the time of possession that badly. That falls squarely on the offense, led by Rodgers. He missed so many throws in the game and played his worst football yet as a Steeler.
There’s no other way to state it. Rodgers was a huge reason the Steelers lost that game. But now he gets an opportunity to bounce back against a Bengals defense that he played well against a few weeks ago. Rodgers says he’s not riding the roller coaster of emotions during the NFL season, and neither are the Steelers.
But they sure need to find some consistency, and fast, because the ride is approaching its stop quickly.
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