Steelers give up lead in 2nd half, lose at home to Packers

Aaron Rodgers was on track to beat his former employer and become the fifth quarterback in NFL history to have victories against all 32 teams.

Then came the second half.

The Pittsburgh Steelers disintegrated after intermission at Acrisure Stadium, and it cost Rodgers a chance to join an exclusive quarterback fraternity.

A nine-point lead dissolved into a 35-25 loss Sunday night to the Green Bay Packers, the second in a row for the Steelers, who dropped to 4-3 for the season.

Despite the loss, the Steelers remain a game-and-a-half ahead of Cincinnati (3-5) and two games in front of Baltimore (2-5) in the AFC North.

The Steelers gave up 28 points in the second half when the Packers accumulated 289 of their 454 yards.

“It’s embarrassing to come out like that and play the way we did,” outside linebacker Alex Highsmith said. “To put up two performances like that, back to back, it’s embarrassing. It’s not the standard, and we’ve got to fix it ASAP.”

A week earlier, the Steelers allowed a season-high 470 yards to the Cincinnati Bengals. In that game, they couldn’t stop the run. This time, they couldn’t stop Packers quarterback Jordan Love, who threw three touchdown passes and had 360 yards in the air.

“You’ve got to handle adversity a lot better,” defensive tackle Cameron Heyward said. “The game eroded in the second half, and big plays were the death of us today. You’re not going to be perfect out there, but you’ve got to keep fighting. I just think there is a lot of ball and not enough fight on our side.”

Compounding the situation for the Steelers is the 7-1 Indianapolis Colts visit Acrisure Stadium next weekend. The Colts are the highest-scoring team in the NFL and are averaging the most yards in the league.

“We all have to own it,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “Certainly, you start with schematics because that is the leadership component of it. We’ll look at everything we’re doing because some of these problems are somewhat repetitive, and we’re not getting better fast enough.”

Rodgers needed a win against the Packers, with whom he spent his first 18 seasons, to join Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Brett Favre and Peyton Manning as the only quarterbacks to beat 32 teams.

It looked like he might do it as the Steelers took a 16-7 lead into the locker room and held a 22-14 advantage in the third quarter on Chris Boswell’s fourth field goal.

But a defense that held the Packers to one touchdown on six possessions in the first half gave up touchdowns on three consecutive possessions to open the second. On the first two drives, the Packers reached the end zone to complete 90-yard and 78-yard possessions. The Packers added another touchdown at the end of 45-yard drive, and Brandon McManus tacked on 28-yard and 25-yard field goals to extend the run of consecutive points to 21.

“We all knew what it meant,” inside linebacker Patrick Queen said of Rodgers’ quest to beat his former team. “That’s what stings the most. You want to get that for him.”

The Steelers got within 10 points when Rodgers connected with Roman Wilson on a 21-yard touchdown with 2:07 left. Jonnu Smith dropped the 2-point conversion attempt.

Rodgers finished 24 of 36 for 219 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. The Steelers, though, were 1 of 10 on third downs and had three of their second-half drives end in a punt and another on a fumble.

“Disappointed that I didn’t play better, that we didn’t play better, especially in the second half,” Rodgers said.

Love, meantime, completed 20 consecutive passes to open the second half, plus a 2-point conversion toss, and he finished with 29 completions on 36 attempts. Love threw two touchdown passes to tight end Tucker Kraft — one in each half — as Green Bay won in Pittsburgh for the first time since 1970. The Packers had lost six in a row here.

Kraft caught seven passes for 143 yards. The biggest was a 59-yard gain after the Steelers had Green Bay in a third-and-5 situation early in the third quarter. The Packers were 0 for 4 on third down in the first half but converted five opportunities after intermission.

The Steelers lost strong safety DeShon Elliott to a knee injury on the play. In his absence, the Steelers experienced some communication issues and breakdowns in the secondary.

“He did a lot for us,” safety Juan Thornhill said. “Once he went down, we had a lot of guys playing positions they hadn’t had a lot of reps in practice because DeShon is always out there working.”

After completing a 7-yard pass to Kraft on fourth-and-1, Love found Savion Williams for an 8-yard TD on a swing pass, cutting the Steelers’ lead to 16-14.

The Steelers countered with Boswell’s fourth field goal with 5:34 left in the third.

Green Bay regained the lead on Josh Jacobs’ 3-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter. The big play came on third-and-7 from the Steelers’ 40 when Love threw deep, and Christian Watson caught it between Brandin Echols and Thornhill for 33 yards. Two plays later, Jacobs went around right end for the score. The Packers went for the 2-point conversion, with Love hitting Romeo Doubs to make it 22-19.

“That second half, it split open,” Heyward said. “If you get hit hard enough, you’ve got to have answers for it. Part of being a professional is fixing your mistakes fast and answering those problems.”

The Steelers didn’t have any answers.

After the Steelers went three-and-out, the Packers took over at the Steelers’ 45 after Nick Herbig was hit with a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty on the punt return. Love and Kraft connected for their second touchdown when Kraft caught a short slant and went 24 yards for the score.

“We can’t let penalties or stuff that goes against you affect your heart in the game,” Heyward said. “When you’ve got a love affair with this game, there has got to always be a buy-in.”

He wasn’t the only member of the locker room to feel that way.

“We need to fight more,” cornerback Joey Porter Jr. said. “We need to finish more.”