The Pittsburgh Steelers have spent this season building momentum.
After an aggressive offseason that brought hope and fresh faces to the Steel City, fans had every reason to believe this team could be a real contender. That hope took a major hit Sunday afternoon in a gut-wrenching loss to the Seattle Seahawks — a 31-17 defeat that didn’t just sting, it exposed.
What made the loss so painful wasn't just the score, but how it unfolded.
Pittsburgh, already hobbling from injuries, found itself gasping for composure. And then came the moment that will live in Steelers infamy — rookie running back Kaleb Johnson’s special teams miscue that gave Seattle an unforgivable gift: a touchdown without a single Seahawk breaking a sweat.
Let’s be clear: the play was bizarre.
A fourth-quarter kickoff bounced awkwardly in the end zone, and rather than falling on it or downing it, Johnson walked away — seemingly unaware the ball was still live. Seattle pounced on it like a hyena in the savanna. Touchdown. Game-changer.
It was the kind of mental lapse that makes your stomach turn, the kind that turns casual mistakes into back-breaking blunders. Watching Johnson jog off while the Seahawks celebrated was surreal. It wasn’t just a rookie mistake — it was a lack of situational awareness at the worst possible time.
The Pittsburgh Steelers cannot blame Kaleb Johnson for the Week 2 loss
But here’s the hard truth: while Kaleb Johnson’s error was glaring, he’s not the sole reason the Steelers lost.
The reality is, this team hasn’t looked sharp through two weeks.
Last week’s win may have masked deeper issues: inconsistent offensive line play, a defense that can’t seem to hold the line in key moments, and an offense that stalls more than it surges. The cracks were already forming. Johnson’s blunder just split them wide open.
Still, it's tough not to feel for the rookie.
Drafted in the third round with high hopes, Johnson was meant to be a spark plug for the offense — not a cautionary tale on special teams. He’s young, and he’ll learn, but Sunday’s mistake was a brutal way to get his welcome-to-the-NFL moment.
What happens next will define this team. Tomlin has made a career out of rallying his players through adversity, and now he faces one of his toughest early-season challenges in years. The Steelers must regroup, clean up the mental errors, and — as obvious as it sounds — revisit the rulebook.
As for Kaleb Johnson, he’ll have to wear this one. But his career isn’t defined by a single moment — not yet. The hope is that Sunday’s heartbreak becomes fuel, not failure. Because if the Steelers are going anywhere this season, they’ll need every player — even the rookies — locked in and ready.