Behind the Steel Curtain
In a final score not many saw coming, Pittsburgh defeated the current AFC top seed Indianapolis Colts at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday, 27-20. As always, there are plenty of takeaways to be had.
The Steelers’ win over the Colts (which wasn’t as close as the final score seems to indicate) was the exact reason why you still have to tune into the NFL each week — even when every piece of evidence indicates the game will go one way.
Pittsburgh, after a disastrous Weeks 7-8 on defense, largely dominated the top offense in the league in a quality home win over a team that had the best record in the entire NFL.
MVP candidate Jonathan Taylor was held to a pedestrian 14 carries for 45 yards. The resurgent Daniel Jones lost two fumbles and tossed three interceptions. Indianapolis’ highly-regarded offensive line gave up five sacks.
Who could’ve seen it coming? Some brave souls picked the Steelers to win the game, but no one predicted the dominant fashion by which it would happen.
After weeks of doom and gloom in Pittsburgh, the good vibes are suddenly back. The Steelers beat a legitimate playoff team. The offense was competent. The defense was largely stellar.
Of course, this doesn’t change much regarding the 2025 Steelers if you managed to keep a level head through the team’s most recent losing streak. Every year there are stunning wins like Sunday’s and a handful of maddening losses like the last two weeks.
To return to an Aaron Rodgers quote I liked following the team’s Week 7 Thursday night loss to Cincinnati, “I’m not going to ride the rollercoaster” — up or down.
Plus, as the last few weeks have proven, turnovers are not a sustainable winning strategy. The Steelers needed most of the Colts’ six giveaways to win on Sunday, and I wouldn’t count on that repeating against the Chargers in Week 10.
There’s a temptation to turn this column into a version of the “it’s so over/we’re so back” meme each week. Still, you have to admire the grit of Pittsburgh to respond the way they did against an opponent like the Colts despite the recent trajectory of the season. After deflating late in games against the Packers and Bengals, the Steelers showed there’s still some fight left.
Despite recent worries about the way the Steelers have looked — and the inevitable low points yet to come this season — there’s little doubt this team is eventually headed to the playoffs. But hopes shouldn’t be rising much higher than that.
Pittsburgh’s defensive renaissance against the Colts wasn’t as simple as the players just performing better. There were some significant schematic changes that took place as well.
One was confirmed before the game: Jalen Ramsey spent the majority of his defensive snaps at safety against the Colts. While safety play is hard to judge from...
