Chuck Clark was haunted by the 24-yard touchdown he gave up to Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft in the fourth quarter of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 35-25 loss Sunday night.

The score with 10 minutes, 57 seconds left put the Packers up by 10 points as they rallied from a 9-point halftime deficit.

Perhaps the bigger damage was done early in the third quarter. That is when starting strong safety DeShon Elliott, the hub of communication in the secondary, was lost to a knee injury when Kraft landed on his leg awkwardly following a 59-yard reception.

It came on the Packers’ opening drive of the second half and led to the barrage of points the Steelers defense couldn’t withstand.

“It was huge,” said safety Juan Thornhill, who didn’t play a significant role on defense Sunday until Elliott’s exit. “He did a lot for us. Then once he went down, we had a lot of guys play positions that they haven’t gotten a lot of reps in practice.”

One was Clark, who went from free safety to strong safety. Thornhill took most of his snaps at Clark’s old spot. Jabrill Peppers also was used at strong safety.

And so it was that Clark offered little resistance when Kraft ran past him en route to scoring that 24-yard touchdown, the second for the Packers in the span of four minutes early in the fourth quarter. Clark slipped slightly as he started to run with Kraft. That provided enough room for Kraft to gain 16 yards after the catch on his way to the end zone.

“I’m mad at that (stuff),” Clark said Monday. “There are certain things that keep you up at night. That’s one of them. I don’t think I ever got beat like that for a touchdown in a game. That definitely kept me up, for sure.”

He likely wasn’t the only one. Packers quarterback Jordan Love had 360 yards passing against a defense that ranks last in the NFL at defending the pass. Of that total, 246 yards came after the catch. Kraft had 131 of his game-high 143 receiving yards come after the catch. He also scored twice.

“No tight ends should have that many yards and touchdowns against us,” inside linebacker Payton Wilson said.

Yet, it’s not the first time a tight end has dominated the Steelers defense. In Week 3, New England’s Hunter Henry had eight catches for 90 yards and two scores. A common denominator was Elliott. He didn’t play in that game because of a knee injury he suffered in the season opener.

The Steelers again are faced with the prospect of being without Elliott for an extended stretch. And the schedule only gets stronger as the 7-1 Indianapolis Colts visit Acrisure Stadium on Sunday. Rookie tight end Tyler Warren of Penn State leads the Colts with 492 receiving yards. He also has three touchdown catches among his 37 receptions.

“I’m going to go to work on it in practice,” Clark said. “I’m going to get with some of our tight ends, get some work in. I haven’t done that as much of late, but I’m going to get right with it.”

The Steelers could rotate players at strong safety in Elliott’s absence. Clark got the start there against Seattle, and Peppers started against New England when Elliott was sidelined early in the season.

“It (stinks) for DeShon. He’s an amazing person, player and leader,” Wilson said. “We love DeShon to death, but you can’t worry about that too much because you’ve got to play ball on Sunday. Somebody has got to step up and play just as good as DeShon does. There shouldn’t be any dropoff.”

Clark and Peppers, though, were unsigned at various times over the summer for a reason. Clark was unemployed until the Steelers signed him early in training camp, and he was a healthy scratch as recently as the game three weeks ago against Cleveland.

Peppers was a late cut by the Patriots who didn’t join the Steelers until the second week of the season and had played only 10 defensive snaps in the previous three games. In addition, Thornhill became available to the Steelers when he was released by Cleveland in February.

“I feel comfortable,” Clark said. “I’m a veteran player. I know this defense, what is expected. I know football. I’m comfortable with that.”

The Steelers also must solve the quick-passing game that has given the defense fits the past two weeks. Love released the ball an average of 2.64 seconds, the sixth-fastest time in Week 8. A week earlier, Joe Flacco got rid of his passes at an average of 2.44 seconds, the second-fastest time recorded by NextGen Stats.

The quick-passing game has resulted in the high yards-per-catch average and has choked off the Steelers’ pass rush. The Steelers didn’t have a sack against the Packers.

“No excuse,” outside linebacker T.J. Watt said. “We need to find ways to affect the game.”

What transpires at the team facility over the next five days might be as important as what takes place Sunday when the Steelers try to slow down the Colts.

“We have to get in the film room and definitely have to figure it out,” Wilson said. “We’ve got some really good weapons up front, and if we can’t get the quarterback to hold the ball long enough, they’re not going to be able to do anything and create that splash and be the dominant force that they are.”

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