The 2025 version of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense might be one of the most head-scratching units in the franchise’s history. Despite being the highest-paid unit in the entire league, it’s far from the most consistent and certainly not the best the league has to offer.
The team has shown wild inconsistencies against the run and pass to varying degrees all season long. It’s no wonder that fans have grown so frustrated with the defense head coach Mike Tomlin and defensive coordinator Teryl Austin orchestrate each week.
However, with a trip to the postseason likely waiting in the team’s future, it’s important to understand what the Pittsburgh defense is trying to accomplish each week. Because, in that regard, many fans and analysts can often miss the mark.
Pittsburgh Steelers' bend-don’t-break defensive philosphy isn’t the problem, inconsistent execution is
To be upfront in the analysis that will soon follow, this exercise is not an attempt to defend Tomlin and Austin’s defense. The highest-paid unit in football should perform more consistently than it does. With that said, some of the things Steelers fans don’t like about the defense are actually by design.
As many, including myself, have noted for years, the defense is bend-don’t-break by design. It’s an intentional choice to play softer on the backend to contend with the modern scope of the game. The rules and design of the sport are implemented in a manner to allow offenses to move more easily against defenses than what you or your father grew up watching.
In turn, Pittsburgh responds with softer zone coverage on early downs, hoping to force opponents into longer third-down situations where T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, and Nick Herbig can hone in on the quarterback.
When that works properly, it points to why it’s not particularly the end of the world when Pittsburgh has given up the third-most passing yards in the league. Pittsburgh counters that by being a defense that affects the quarterback consistently and forces turnovers. The Steelers rank fourth in takeaways and sacks this season, so they somewhat balance what they give up with what they take away.
On the ground, Pittsburgh ranks 15th in the league in yards allowed. To most Steelers fans, anything less than a top-10 or better finish in this regard is blasphemous to the spirit of Steelers football. However, Pittsburgh is the third-best defense in preventing rushing touchdowns, which is a far more important metric in determining the outcomes of games.
That points to another strength of the Steelers' defense, preventing red-zone scores. While Pittsburgh doesn’t get nearly as many stops between the 20s as they’d like (they’re 25th in third-down conversions and 31st on fourth downs), the Steelers are one of the top teams in the league at shutting offenses down in the red zone, ranking 8th in red-zone touchdown percentage.
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Granted, the miscues between the 20s are a legitimate gripe among Steelers fans. A defense that stays on the field too long doesn’t offer many opportunities to its offense. Through the Steelers' struggles this season, they lost the time of possession battle far too often, leading to the defense playing the highest number of snaps in the league while the offense had the lowest snap totals in the NFL. But that’s where the execution of the philosophy is failing, not the philosophy itself.
Clearly, that is not a recipe for success, and that is where Tomlin’s 2025 defense has come up short the most. As Steelers fans have noticed this season, Pittsburgh’s takeaways come in bunches, while their inability to get stops on third and fourth downs consistently has been a theme all season long. But that’s why Pittsburgh is 7-0 when they win the turnover battle and 2-6 if it’s tied or worse.
Of course, with all of this in mind, it’s not as though the Steelers should be satisfied with the yards they allow each week. Obviously, if the defense were effectively working as designed, Pittsburgh wouldn’t rank so poorly in yards and conversion rates.
Nonetheless, as long as Tomlin is in charge of the defense, however much longer that may be, expect his unit to stick to similar philosophies. It’s not a bad design when it works, giving up yards instead of points. After all, Pittsburgh is 6-2 when they allow over 300 total offensive yards, but just 3-4 if they hold opponents to less.
Steelers fans are right to question Tomlin and the validity of his defensive strategy, especially when it doesn’t work out as intended. But the intent of the philosophy works in the modern-day NFL; it’s just a matter of those highly-paid defenders executing it at a higher, more consistent level.