Mike Tomlin’s not around anymore to make any colorful references to “the stench” a team “wears” after a particularly poor performance. Under a new coach, that Pittsburgh Steelers offense turned to a similarly smelly metaphor in following up a lethargic loss last week.
“I know the media day-and-age that we’re in, there’s overreactions when we put up three points and look like dog you-know-what,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said.
“(But) we had a nice game today.”
Be it offensive-minded coach Mike McCarthy’s adjustments, a little home cooking or changes on the offensive line, the Steelers offense Sunday was almost unrecognizable compared to the unit that sputtered seven days earlier.
Aaron Rodgers threw touchdown passes to three receivers, and the Steelers beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 30-27, in an early-season AFC North showdown at Acrisure Stadium.
A week after managing just three points and 235 yards while punting eight times in a loss at the New England Patriots, the Steelers on Sunday against the previously unbeaten Bengals totaled 411 yards, almost doubled their previous point production for the season and punted just once.
The Steelers entered as a home underdog to a team that had scored 53 points over the first two weeks of the season, a harrowing reality for a team that had managed just 16 offensive points in splitting its first two games.
“We felt that we needed to score points to win this game,” said McCarthy, the veteran coach/play-caller. “I wrote down ‘31’ in my notes going in as far as a (points) target.
“I just knew that I felt that we needed to score points because I think play-calling a lot of times is mindset.”
With McCarthy calling the shots, the offense looked crisp right from the start Sunday.
By definition, it played its best first quarter of this decade.
Touchdown catches by Roman Wilson and Ben Skowronek on the Steelers’ first two drives gave the Steelers a 14-point first quarter for the first time since Oct. 13, 2019.
Counting another touchdown throw to DK Metcalf, Rodgers finished 19 for 34 for 292 yards and an interception — the result of Wilson bobbling the ball and tipping it into the air — for a 101.6 passer rating.
After a week of fan chatter about whether the 42-year-old Rodgers was cooked — or perhaps that he just would never survive behind an offensive line that had him under siege in New England — the Steelers in the first half alone Sunday had more yards (243-235) and third-down conversions (four to two) than they had all game Sept. 20. They had more points by then (17) than they had produced all season, too.
“Sometimes,” left tackle Troy Fautanu said, “you’ve got to get punched in the face in order to learn.”
Two Chris Boswell field goals in the fourth quarter turned a three-point deficit into a win that was capped by a Derrick Harmon strip-sack of Joe Burrow and subsequent Sebastian Joseph-Day fumble recovery near midfield with 44 seconds to play.
“That was a big-time rush, sack and (forced) fumble,” McCarthy said. “You’ll be watching that on the highlights for quite some time.”
The Steelers did not punt until the fourth quarter Sunday, though one Cameron Johnston boot in the third quarter was negated by a roughing-the-punter penalty. That extended a drive that was capped by a Metcalf 6-yard touchdown catch that gave the Steelers a brief 24-20 lead.
That the Steelers offense was humming was an absolute necessity, though, on a day when Cincinnati was moving the ball with almost as much ease. The Bengals had only two punts.
Burrow’s third touchdown pass of the day — to tight end Mike Gesicki — gave the Bengals a 27-24 lead 87 seconds into the fourth quarter, setting the stage for the 26th fourth-quarter comeback of Rodgers’ 22-year career.
It didn’t look that way to start, though, when the Steelers managed just 11 yards on the ensuing drive. But the Bengals’ Ke’Shaun Williams muffed Johnston’s ensuing punt, and Skowronek recovered at the Cincinnati 14-yard line.
Minutes later, Boswell’s 36-yard field goal tied the score 27-27.
A Steelers defense that had been largely gashed all afternoon for 352 yards by Burrow and the Bengals, however, responded with its only three-and-out.
Rodgers then directed an odd drive that, despite gaining 88 yards, produced only three points off Boswell’s toe that would prove to be the difference in the game. The longest play of the possession was a bruising 47-yard sideline catch and run by 300-plus pound tight end Darnell Washington.
“I knew big plays were going to be a big part of this game,” McCarthy said. “And we did at the end.”
Still, Burrow set up shop at his own 30 with 2:30 left. Completions of 17 and 13 yards to star receiver Ja’Marr Chase — who had a first-quarter touchdown — got the Bengals to the Steelers’ 38, setting up Harmon’s heroics on the next snap.
“Seeing that right tackle (Amarius Mims) with his foot all the way back, I just knew it was going to be a kick-step,” Harmon said, “and I just went.”
It was the only Steelers sack of the game.
The Bengals had two sacks of Rodgers — both by All-Pro tackle Dexter Lawrence — but it was the Steelers’ offensive line that appeared to benefit from changes in the starting lineup at right tackle and right guard.
Rookie first-round pick Max Iheanachor made his first career start in place of right tackle Dylan Cook, and veteran free-agent signee Brock Hoffman replaced Spencer Anderson at right guard.
Neither was, necessarily, perfect. But their efforts help contribute to a day in which the offense topped 400 yards for only the second time over their past 27 games and led the Steelers to a big division victory.
“We locked in this week, and we knew we had to have it,” Skowronek said. “We knew we could do it. We’ve been doing it, you know, since (training camp in) Latrobe. So I’m proud of the group for the way we responded after those first two weeks.”