The evening started badly and just kept getting worse for the Pittsburgh Steelers on “Sunday Night Football” in Los Angeles.

Prior to kickoff, NBC aired a hacky, courtroom-themed pre-game show vignette with Judge Judy. Little did I know she was a Chargers fan.

Little did I know she was still relevant enough to feature.

Little did I know that she would end up being the highlight of the whole evening, as the Steelers were ground into dust by the Chargers, 25-10.

Frankly, the game felt worse than that final score.

pic.twitter.com/JboA6UvYzC

— Benstonium (@Benstonium) November 10, 2025

Welp, sometimes a picture really does tell 1,000 words.

Yeah. I smell it too, Coach T. And I’m pretty sure it’s your team that stinks.

Sticking with the theme, I don’t always write our “Airing of Grievances” in chronological order. But, in this case, the jury (not Judge Judy) has spoken, and that’s what we are going to do.

1st quarter failures

The Chargers tried to help the Steelers early in the game. The Steelers politely refused any aid.

Cameron Dicker began the night by kicking out of bounds. The Steelers gave 5 yards back right away on an Andrus Peat false start on the first offensive snap of the game. They went three-and-out on that opening possession.

L.A. punted on its next series. The punt only went 34 yards. Pittsburgh started at the Chargers’ 46-yard line. On third-and-5, quarterback Aaron Rodgers did a nice job of avoiding the rush, but he missed an open DK Metcalf down the field.

So the Steelers had to rely on a Chris Boswell 59-yard field goal to make anything out of that gift.

When the Chargers got the ball back, Joey Porter Jr. dropped what looked like an easy interception near midfield on a third-down throw. That allowed the Chargers to punt instead. JK Scott dropped it at the Pittsburgh 6-yard line.

So instead of starting a drive near the 50-yard line, the Steelers began 94 yards from the end zone, and Rodgers ended up taking a safety on third down.

After 15 minutes of play, the Steelers were only on top 3-2.

In the second quarter, safety Kyle Dugger tried to dive for a pick in the defensive red zone on a third down. It was tipped, and it would’ve been a nice catch. But Dugger had it in his hands and couldn’t secure it.

Dicker kicked a field goal on fourth down to make it 5-3.

To make matters worse, while the Steelers were dropping interceptions, former Steeler Donte Jackson held onto one in the fourth quarter for the Chargers — after it went off Calvin Austin’s hands.

donte jackson snatched that up

???? | @snfonnbc pic.twitter.com/WGTMNbASya

— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) November 10, 2025

Didn’t play it ‘safe’

On that safety, Rodgers stepped up to avoid pressure from Khalil Mack, who got around Troy Fautanu.

He did so, but, for some reason, danced back across the goal line, got in trouble from Mack again, dropped the ball and had to fall on it to take the safety instead of allowing a defensive TD.

???? SAFETY ????

???? | @snfonnbc pic.twitter.com/o9IwN9JjoI

— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) November 10, 2025

Just throw the ball away or take the sack beyond the goal line. Anything is better than taking a safety.

Not his best

For the most part, Rodgers has been really good for the Steelers in 2025.

He wasn’t on Sunday.

Rodgers missed Metcalf on that bomb and took the safety. He also airmailed a wide-open Jonnu Smith in the first half. Smith jumped and appeared to make the catch, but it got overturned.

Late in the second quarter, Austin had a step on Nikko Reed deep in the secondary. Rodgers didn’t lead him. That allowed Reed to stay in the play. The ball was only underthrown a little bit, yet it was enough to allow Reed to break up the pass.

Rodgers also sailed a pass to Kenneth Gainwell in the red zone in the fourth quarter and threw an interception just before the two-minute warning in the first half.

mickens was alllllll over it

???? | @snfonnbc pic.twitter.com/RYfESrBvjw

— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) November 10, 2025

That led to a Ladd McConkey touchdown to give L.A. a 12-3 lead at halftime.

On the night, Rodgers finished 16 of 31 for 161 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. That was good for a piddly passer rating of 50.6.

Let’s not stop there

Aside from Jaylen Warren, no one on that offense is immune from blame. He had 91 yards from scrimmage on 16 touches, and should’ve had more.

Regarding the offensive line, Rodgers was sacked on three occasions and hit multiple other times. He was frequently forced to throw on the move and wasn’t accurate when he needed to be.

Broderick Jones didn’t quite regress to his early-season form, but he wasn’t good. And Fautanu wasn’t as clean as he had been in recent weeks.

Metcalf ended with only three catches and 35 yards. Fellow offseason addition Smith had one catch for 4 yards.

As a group, the offense failed to convert its first nine third-down snaps and ended up 2 for 11.

Rodgers was averaging 4.3 yards per pass attempt before a garbage-time TD drive that got him up to 5.2. Arthur Smith’s group averaged only 4.4 yards per play (221 yards total) and possessed the ball for a measly 22 minutes, 25 seconds.

On special teams, even Boswell missed a field goal (from 45 yards), and Ke’Shawn Williams muffed a punt.

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Also on the hook

The defense isn’t without blame. It exploited the Chargers’ injury-tattered offensive line for five sacks and 11 quarterback hits.

However, it also stayed on the field for more than 37 minutes and 69 plays. As banged up as the Chargers’ offensive line was, Kimani Vidal ended the game with 95 yards rushing and would’ve had over 100 if they weren’t running into stacked boxes to kill the clock at the end of the game.

Not only did the Steelers fail to create a turnover by dropping picks, but they also didn’t have an answer for McConkey.

A gain of 58 for Ladd McConkey!

PITvsLAC on NBCStream on @NFLPlus + Peacock pic.twitter.com/rdjm96SxTb

— NFL (@NFL) November 10, 2025

He had four catches for 107 yards and a touchdown.

Next week the Steelers play the Cincinnati Bengals. At least they don’t have receivers that are any g…

Oh. Right.

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