Steelers Now
PITTSBURGH — Last week, I wrote a very long column about the five reasons the Pittsburgh Steelers have struggled throughout the 2025 season.
If I wanted to, I could write it again. The Steelers lost to the Buffalo Bills, 26-7 on Sunday, further sinking their 2025 season, and even though the way they went about losing was slightly different, almost everything I wrote about last week was a factor in this week’s loss.
The obvious problems on offense were again the obvious problems. The Steelers’ receivers rarely got any separation, even though the Bills were stacking the box to stop Jaylen Warren and company, the few times they did get open, injured 41-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers was not crisp. The offensive line didn’t protect him all that well, leading to yet another injury, and backup Mason Rudolph throwing a game-turning interception.
On defense, Teryl Austin once again failed to find a successful in-game adjustment to what the Bills were doing to the Steelers defense. It was a different attack than the one the Bears put for the the previous week, but if anything, it was even more simple-minded. Buffalo ran the same run play, over and over and over again.
“I’ve never seen a team run the same play as much as they ran it tonight and have as much success as they had,” Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt said. “I’m out of words for it.”
Watt should have a good idea what the Bills were doing. He was the player they were running right to, over and over again, despite backups in at both tackle spots. The Steelers have spent over $80 million this year on outside linebackers and defensive linemen and another $27 million on linebackers. They were decimated by a Buffalo offensive line missing two of it starters. Watt and Cam Heyward, the veteran leaders of the defense, have not lived up their salaries.
Finally, the Minkah Fitzpatrick trade continues to look worse and worse. While the Steelers’ run defense was getting gashed, Jalen Ramsey spent most of the game lined up 12 yards off the ball. He made nine tackles, but had almost no real impact in the game. On offense, Jonnu Smith ran the wrong route once, whiffed on a block on a fourth down, and finished with one catch for six yards.
I could write another 2,000 word column about all of those things, but I’ll just refer you to last week’s. There’s no point in writing it again.
Instead, I’m going to write about the fans. I don’t really care to do so — I get paid to talk about football, first and foremost.
But the environment Sunday evening at Acrisure Stadium felt notable. From the moment I walked through the North Shore, it was evident that many of the Black and Gold faithful had made their feelings about the team known silently — with their feet. There were thousands of members of Bills Mafia in the city on Sunday, and even though...
