Lost in the drama of Aaron Rodgers’ homecoming against the Green Bay Packers was the fact that Week 8 presented the Pittsburgh Steelers with their first opportunity to take on a true championship contender, albeit from the NFC.
Early on, Pittsburgh seemed poised to prove they could hang with the big boys at the top of the NFL mountain, maintaining a lead for the majority of the contest. Unfortunately, any goodwill they built up in the first half was torn down by the end of the game. The Steelers front didn’t have answers for Micah Parsons and the speedy Packers defense, and the defense couldn’t figure out Jordan Love’s connection with Tucker Kraft.
Ultimately, Pittsburgh’s early lead was washed away as Green Bay cruised in the fourth quarter, only expanding its lead.
The Green Bay Packers' second-half surge exposed every flaw the Pittsburgh Steelers thought they fixed
While the Steelers ensured a competitive, close game for the entertainment of the primetime crowd early, it won’t sustain fans of the black and gold. The Steelers collapsed late in a monumental game, which is going to stick in the craw of the fanbase more than anything.
After all, the Steelers kept pace early with field goals, a tried-and-true method of losing close games in the winter. It’s never a bad thing when you have five scoring drives, but when the vast majority are ending in three instead of six, the scoreboard can be fickle when it is in your favor.
And that’s exactly what happened against Green Bay.
The Packers scored touchdowns, five of them to frame the scoreboard as a blowout before Rodgers’ last-ditch efforts put an extra score on the board. They scored touchdowns on drives that stretched 45, 67, 78, and 90 yards throughout the game. Green Bay scored points on all four of its possessions in the second half.
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Pittsburgh has a lot of issues to clean up on both sides of the ball. After all, Pittsburgh’s field goals would have been enough if only the Steelers’ defense could get a stop or two in the second half. And it’s not as though the team isn’t vastly improved from years past.
But it is clear that the team still has a long way to go before those lofty postseason ambitions that came with the signing of Rodgers can be viewed from a realistic perspective.