The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Steelers Thursday Night Win Over Titans

The Bad: The Defensive Backfield is Abhorrent Without Minkah Fitzpatrick

Remember when the Steelers were a rookie quarterback's worst nightmare?

Will Levis, in just his second start, continued to look like a guy the NFL fooled itself on. While he didn't throw for the ludicrous number of touchdowns he had against Atlanta last week, he was impressive. He recognized the typical Steelers mismatches in coverage, like a middle linebacker covering an All-Pro wide receiver, to make splash plays when Tennessee needed them most.

Now, the headline of this section shouldn't suggest that the defensive backfield has been anything short of frustrating all season even before Minkah Fitzpatrick's hamstring injury last week. Levi Wallace lost his job for a reason. Keanu Neal, Damontae Kazee, and Patrick Peterson continue to struggle with communication and keeping up with younger, more athletic players.

Not much has changed in that regard for this game. And to boot, Joey Porter Jr. struggled with penalties early in the game, particularly on third downs.

While Levis had to face considerable pressure all night, he didn't seem to have much problem reading the defense. He completed 56% of his passes for 262 yards. While he leaned on DeAndre Hopkins early, he was able to pick apart Pittsburgh's secondary with the likes of Kyle Phillips to the tune of four catches for 68 yards. He had four catches for 30 yards on the season coming into the game.

The secondary has been brutal all year, and struggling against a second rookie quarterback doesn't paint a picture that it's going to get better. There are problems in the scheme and in the personnel and it continues to make things more difficult on this team than it should be.