Sunday’s festivities for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ home opener against the Seattle Seahawks began with 1980s metal star Bruce Dickinson singing the national anthem.

After that, though, as Dickinson once sang with his band Iron Maiden, the Steelers endured “Hell on Earth.”

The Steelers gave up a touchdown on the opening drive of the game, managed to take a lead, blew it, tried to come back, but then lost 31-17 thanks to one of the all-time mental miscues in Acrisure Stadium history.

Since Dickinson was pretty much the only guy who got the job done for the home team, let’s have an Iron Maiden-themed “Airing of Grievances” as we get to “The Aftermath” of this loss.

AIRING OF GRIEVANCES

Darkest Hour

Remember when Barry Foster forgot the rules and failed to field a kickoff in San Francisco during a game in 1990?

Well, if you’ve tried for decades to forget that moment, Kaleb Johnson just brought back the memories.

Like Foster back then, Johnson is a rookie running back and had a brain cramp. On a fourth-quarter kickoff, Johnson let the ball hit in the landing zone, and he didn’t attempt to return the live ball.

Seattle special teamer George Holani jumped on it for a Seattle touchdown.

The Seahawks just recovered a kickoff in the end zone for a touchdown!

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— NFL (@NFL) September 14, 2025

“If I wasn’t sure (of the rule), if I was sure, it doesn’t matter. I’ve still got to do what I’ve got to do. I’ve still got to execute it the way it has to be executed,” Johnson said. “I’ve just got to stick to it and move on. It is part of life.”

Seattle had just converted a field goal before that mistake. It gave the Seahawks a 24-14 lead the Steelers failed to overcome.

Lightning Strikes Twice

The Steelers’ defense was rotten on Seattle’s opening drives of both halves.

The Seahawks marched right down the field against the Steelers’ alleged “historic defense.” Darnold and running back Kenneth Walker III took turns chopping up the Satin Curtain to the tune of eight plays and 54 yards in four and a half minutes.

That opening sequence resulted in a touchdown pass to Tory Horton.

Tory Horton’s 1st career catch is a touchdown!

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The Seahawks converted third downs of 6 and 10 yards along the way.

To open the second half, after a Steelers punt, Seattle capped off a similar drive with a TD pass to AJ Barner.

Seattle's right back in the game after a Darnold to Barner TD

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This scoring jaunt lasted five minutes, covering 80 yards in nine plays. Seattle only got to third down once in that span of time, turning a third-and-4 into a 17-yard completion to Kupp.

The defense was porous beyond those two drives yet again, just like it was in New York. After struggling on offense last week in a 17-13 loss to San Francisco, the Seahawks posted 395 total net yards. They put up 117 yards in rushing with Kenneth Walker III going off for 105. And much like Garret Wilson (95 yards and a touchdown) was for Justin Fields last Sunday at MetLife Stadium, Jaxon Smith-Njigba had a big day for Darnold.

“We didn’t do enough to minimize some known eligibles,” coach Mike Tomlin said after the defeat. “We didn’t do enough to minimize (Smith-Njigba) on possession downs.”

Smith-Njigba ended up with eight catches for 103 yards.

Run to the Hills

Jaylen Warren had a tremendous individual effort during the Steelers’ second possession of the third quarter, but the Steelers wasted it.

Aaron Rodgers rolled to his left as the pocket collapsed in front of him to the right. He then lofted a pass to Warren. He took off like a comet after he caught the ball at the Pittsburgh 38.

The running back proceeded to break three tackles and carry the ball all the way to the 5-yard line.

Jaylen Warren went crazy on this catch and run ????

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— NFL (@NFL) September 14, 2025

The play led to nothing, though, as Rodgers tossed an interception three snaps later.

He threw a pass in traffic to the back left corner of the end zone, trying to squeeze a ball to Pat Freiermuth. But Calvin Austin tried to dive for it, and it went off his arm.

Derion Kendrick gets his interception on Aaron Rodgers!

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— NFL (@NFL) September 14, 2025

“Calvin is the best kid ever. But he should’ve just stayed in the flat there,” Rodgers said. “It (stinks) because he is such a great kid. But it’s unfortunate that the whole sequence took points off the board.”

If Rodgers completes that pass to Freiermuth, the Steelers go in front 20-14 with an extra point perhaps on the way to give them a touchdown lead in the third quarter.

Deja Vu

Aside from that reception, it was tough sledding for Warren and all of the Steelers running backs as the ground game failed to gain traction all day.

In Week 1 at New York, Arthur Smith’s run game only netted 53 yards. Sunday’s effort wasn’t much better, posting a measly 72 yards.

Kenneth Gainwell had the longest run of the day at 13 yards. No one else had a run longer than 9 yards.

Warren ran for only 48 yards. Aside from his 65-yard reception, he had just three catches for 31 yards.

Different World

Rodgers’ performance was a far cry from his inspiring outing last week. He was just 18 of 33 for 203 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. He was sacked three times for a passer rating of 58.

The same could be said for DK Metcalf. After totaling 83 yards in New York, with 68 coming after the catch, Metcalf was nearly silent against his former team until a 2-yard touchdown reception late in the second quarter.

DK Metcalf scores against the Seahawks!

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— NFL (@NFL) September 14, 2025

Th ex-Seahawk only had two other catches for a grand total of 20 yards. He also had two early drops.

As far as the other wide receivers, Austin, Roman Wilson, Scotty Miller and Ben Skowronek combined for two catches and 29 yards against a Seattle secondary that was missing Devon Witherspoon and Nick Emmanwori.

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