The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 33-31 loss in Cincinnati on Thursday night was a sobering reality check.

In a lot of ways.

There were obvious Xs & Os issues. Most pressing, the defense is far from fixed.

After the way that side of the ball performed in consecutive weeks against the Minnesota Vikings and Cleveland Browns, it was fair to start believing that the bad defensive hangover from the end of 2024 had started to lift.

So much for that notion.

Against Cleveland, the Steelers’ defense totaled six sacks, 16 quarterback hits and held the Browns to 65 rushing yards. In Dublin against the Vikings, coordinator Teryl Austin’s unit forced two turnovers and racked up six sacks. Those two teams converted just 14 of 38 attempts on third and fourth downs.

Unfortunately, against the Bengals, Cincinnati was 8 of 15 on conversion downs. They held on to the ball for 34 minutes and 32 seconds. The Steelers didn’t force any turnovers, and they got to the immobile Joe Flacco only twice in 49 dropbacks.

On top of all that, Cincinnati’s previously nonexistent run game put up 142 yards on the ground.

“If you’re not stopping the run and getting off the field, and then not creating turnovers, you’re in a whole world of hurt,” linebacker T.J. Watt said after the game. “Just got to watch the film and get better. I’m sure it’s a mix of a lot of things, but we need to solve it quick.”

Offensively, the team did enough to win. The run game was good. They managed to hit some chunk plays on passes from quarterback Aaron Rodgers to wide receiver DK Metcalf and tight end Pat Freiermuth. The other three tight ends contributed with one touchdown apiece, and Rodgers wasn’t sacked.

But they got tricky too often and failed — specifically on their Tush Push attempt and a busted flea flicker.

Not to mention, they continue to get very little from wideouts besides Metcalf.

“We won’t be defined by this performance, but it certainly was disappointing,” head coach Mike Tomlin said of the loss.

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Beyond just these on-field angles, there’s a slap in the face of where this team is in the big picture as opposed to last year.

There was plenty of applause after Pittsburgh opened a wide lead in the AFC North at 4-1 following their victory over Cleveland two weeks ago. The Bengals, at 2-4, were the next-best team.

Now, though, at 4-2, whether we want to acknowledge it or not, the Steelers have exactly the same record they did when Justin Fields was the quarterback. Furthermore, the Steelers now have to play three straight teams — Green Bay, Indianapolis and the L.A. Chargers — that are currently a combined 14-5-1 and all in a playoff spot.

Overall, Rodgers has definitely been a plus-player at quarterback. He’s had a couple of really strong games on his own (four touchdowns apiece against the Bengals and New York Jets), and he’s operated at an efficient rate, helping the Steelers overcome their shortcomings in other areas.

When the Steelers acquired Rodgers, I always figured that the quarterback play would be improved enough that this year’s club would never endure another five-game losing streak as it did to end 2024.

However, for as much as we try to forget this because we buried Russell Wilson on the way out the door, the guy did go 6-1 (with a passer rating of 103.9) in his first seven starts. At best, Rodgers will be 5-2 with seven games remaining against teams either currently in a playoff spot, or were in one a year ago.

That’s more a commentary on the team than it is on Rodgers himself. But it’s also evidence that a moderate upgrade at quarterback isn’t the magic elixir we pretended it was going to be in August.

Thus far in 2025, it feels like the Steelers are being buoyed by the receding tide of the AFC North, and the rest of the conference more than they are taking major strides forward on their own.

Despite what we may have been trying to talk ourselves into believing a week ago.

“We want to win every game. There needs to be an expectation of winning, but this is a short week, division opponent … Anything can happen,” Rodgers said. “This is the NFL. We had a chance to really open up some space, but we’re 4-2, still first in the division. We’ve got a couple of home games coming up back-to-back. Another Sunday night opportunity against my former team (Green Bay). I’m not going to ride the roller coaster. I know Mike (Tomlin) isn’t, and hopefully you (media) guys follow suit.”

Sorry, Aaron. This is Pittsburgh, and these are the Steelers. Every year is a roller coaster to some degree. So far, this ride in 2025 feels very similar to the one we went on last year.

Hopefully, it doesn’t come off the rails again in December or January, as it has so frequently over the last eight seasons.

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