Five things we learned from Sunday night’s Pittsburgh Steelers’ 25-10 defeat at the Los Angeles Chargers:

1. Time of (no) possession I

The Steelers’ time of possession of 22 minutes, 25 seconds was a season low for a team that’s among the NFL’s worst at time of possession. It lowered the Steelers’ season average to a flat 27 minutes, meaning that the average Steelers game has featured the opponent holding the ball 6 minutes longer than they have.

That’s translated into a 622-495 deficit in snaps from scrimmage, meaning that on average, Steelers opponents are running 14 more offensive plays per game than they are. No NFL team has run fewer offensive plays per game.

The only game in which the Steelers’ offense played more than their defense was the Oct. 12 home win against the lowly Cleveland Browns.

If the 27-minute figure would stand for the remainder of the season, it would mark the Steelers’ worst seasonal average time of possession since at least 1991. (That’s as far back as TOP data goes on the league’s official statistical website.) That roughly coincides with the post-Chuck Noll era. Under the regimes of Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin over the past 34 seasons, the worst Steelers average time of possession to date is 28:42 in 2019.

2. Time of (no) possession II

For only four full seasons since Cowher was hired in 1992 (then replaced by Tomlin in 2007) have the Steelers been “under water” in time of possession. What is alarming is the trend. Counting 2025, the Steelers have held the ball less than their opponents now in four of the past seven seasons (also 2019, 2021, 2023).

The only other season they have been negative time of possession since 1992 was 2015. That means that after a 23-year streak of being “in the black” in time of possession from 1992-2014, in five of the past 11 seasons (including the current one) the Steelers are “in the red” in regards to holding onto the ball.

Zeroing in from seasonal to game time of possession again reveals a startling negative trend. As low as the Steelers’ possession time was against the Chargers, it is one of three occasions in which the Steelers held the ball that little over a span of their past 13 games. During losses in Week 15 and Week 18 of 2024, the Steelers had possession times of 20:08 and 22:00.

That means that the past 11 months have featured as many Steelers games with a sub-22:25 TOP as they had over the previous 17 years combined. Between Week 16 of the 2007 season and the aforementioned Week 15 loss last season (in Philadelphia), the Steelers had only three occasions of a TOP of 22:25 or less.

3. Slighted tight end

After a stretch in which Darnell Washington appeared as if he was a locked-in No. 1 tight end for the Steelers, he has fallen back into TE3 territory. The 6-foot-7 Washington played just 48% of the Steelers’ 52 offensive snaps Sunday — fewer than fellow tight ends Jonnu Smith (67%) and Pat Freiermuth (50%).

Over a three-game stretch earlier this season from Weeks 4-7 (including a bye), “Mount” Washington had ascended to an aggregate 78% snap share with 13 targets coming his way, 11 catches and a touchdown.

Over the past three games, though, Washington has played just 54% of the Steelers’ offensive snaps with seven total targets and five receptions. He was limited to one target against the Chargers — it was good for a 15-yard catch that stood as the Steelers’ second-biggest gain of the game until their final “garbage time” drive.

Including Freiermuth and Smith (Connor Heyward barely played), Steelers tight ends against the Chargers combined for six targets, five catches and 57 receiving yards.

4. Network connection?

A quirk in the Steelers’ record so far this season … or the key to their success? You decide.

It has been noted that the Steelers are 0-3 in primetime games, making them 5-1 in afternoon kickoffs. But maybe it’s not the start time but the network? Or perhaps even the broadcast commentators?!

Hear me out.

By television network in 2025, the Steelers are 0-2 on NBC, 0-1 on Prime Video, 0-1 on Fox, 1-0 on NFL Network — and a perfect 4-0 on CBS.

Breaking it down moreso, the Steelers have had the same announcer team for each game on The Tiffany Network — and one of the two men who’s done all their 1 p.m. CBS games just happens to be the brother of one of their highest-profile players.

Ian Eagle and J.J. Watt — CBS’ No. 2 team — have done each of the four Steelers games their network has carried to this point. Watt, of course, is the older brother of Steelers’ star edge rusher T.J. Watt.

The good news for the Steelers is that six of the next seven games are scheduled for a CBS broadcast. (That, of course, is subject to change via the NFL’s flex scheduling.) Four are set for 1 p.m. kickoffs, with a pair — home to Buffalo on Nov. 30 and at Detroit on Dec. 21 — with 4:25 p.m. scheduled start times.

The only primetime game scheduled currently for the remainder of the Steelers’ season is “Monday Night Football” on Dec. 15 at home against the Miami Dolphins. (Week 18 is officially “TBA” for all teams until a week prior.)

5. Snap decisions

The Steelers continued creative “triple-threat” deployment of both their inside and outside linebackers corps. Against the Chargers, T.J. Watt played 60 of the Steelers’ 73 defensive snaps, with Alex Highsmith playing 53, Nick Herbig 21 and rookie Jack Sawyer 10. That signifies that for eight snaps, three were on the field at once.

At inside linebacker, Patrick Queen never left the field, Payton Wilson played 41 snaps and Malik Harrison 33. That means that for one snap, all three were present.

After a Steelers debut for safety Kyle Dugger in which he played all but one of the Steelers’ defensive snaps during a win against the Indianapolis Colts last week, Dugger did one better and played every snap against Los Angeles. Jalen Ramsey likewise never left the field on defense — although, per Pro Football Focus, he lined up at outside cornerback for 10 snaps after doing so only once versus Indianapolis.

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