PITTSBURGH — They knelt in front of a black casket, hands clasped and heads bowed.
As tailgaters mingled in the parking lots outside of Acrisure Stadium, a group of Pittsburgh Steelers faithful staged a mock funeral, complete with a collection box, candles and a guest book. Inside the casket: a sign depicting the Steelers’ maligned defense.
A franchise that has long prided itself on hard-nosed, defensive football watched a much-ballyhooed group fall woefully short of expectations through the first seven weeks of the season. Entering Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts, Pittsburgh’s defense had allowed 30 points or more in four of its seven games. It hadn’t produced a turnover since September — its Week 4 win over the Minnesota Vikings in Dublin — and it ranked dead last against the pass.
“It was a tough week, but we certainly deserved it based on the last performance,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “I liked the way the guys absorbed it, smiled in the face of it, prepared and waited for the next opportunity.”
Given the current state of the defense, Sunday’s game looked like a nightmare matchup against the NFL’s highest-scoring offense. The Steelers have been inconsistent against the run; the Colts had the NFL’s leading rusher, Jonathan Taylor. The Steelers have struggled to minimize tight ends; Colts rookie Tyler Warren entered the game as the NFL’s leading receiver at the position. The secondary was missing a trio of safeties — DeShon Elliott, Chuck Clark and Jabrill Peppers — forcing it to play Jalen Ramsey exclusively at free safety and Kyle Dugger, acquired just days earlier, at strong safety. The Colts had one of the NFL’s most explosive offenses. On top of it all, Colts coach Shane Steichen has outcoached and outschemed Tomlin and defensive coordinator Teryl Austin in a number of recent matchups.
All signs pointed toward another shovelful of dirt being dumped on this defense. Instead, on a day when the Steelers celebrated the 20th anniversary of Super Bowl XL, this unit came back to life. In a 27-20 victory, the Steelers forced six turnovers, limited Taylor to 3.2 yards per carry and sacked quarterback Daniel Jones five times. The victory halted a two-game losing streak and kept the Steelers atop the AFC North standings at 5-3.
“This was a statement game for us as a defense,” cornerback Joey Porter Jr. said. “We didn’t like what we put out on film the last two weeks. We had to come out and make a point. I think we did today.”
Steelers fans held a funeral for their defense in the stadium parking lot before facing the Colts 😂 pic.twitter.com/1MnMUC5LVq
— NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) November 2, 2025
The mood began to shift internally for the Steelers on Saturday night. Ramsey stood in front of the team and delivered an emotional message. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers didn’t get into the specifics of what was said, but he noticed a change.
“Jalen kind of went on and on and had the attention of the room,” Rodgers said. “He said some really good stuff. … It was meaningful to me on the offensive side. I felt like we had a different energy in the locker room today.”
Still, even with members of the 2005 Super Bowl team in attendance and urgency to end the losing streak, the game began to unfold in a familiar, frustrating manner. The Steelers offense went three-and-out on its opening possession, and the defense allowed a 13-play, 79-yard touchdown drive that featured two explosive pass plays and a pair of fourth-down conversions.
But early in the second quarter, the Colts decided to leave T.J. Watt single-teamed; Watt made them pay. He swatted the ball from Jones’ hands and recovered the fumble himself. The Steelers capitalized on the miscue with a 12-play, 56-yard touchdown drive, capped by a Jaylen Warren 1-yard run.
“(Watt’s play) was everything,” Tomlin said. “We were running on the beach offensively. We needed a short field. Like all great players, he provided it when we needed it most.”
The bounce-back performance from the defense started with bottling up Taylor. Entering Sunday, he was averaging more than 100 yards per game. The Steelers used a unique wrinkle with what looked like a 4-3 alignment that featured a four-man front and three inside linebackers: Patrick Queen, Payton Wilson and Malik Harrison. That adjustment, coupled with simple and sound football up front, held Taylor to 45 rushing yards on 14 carries. As a team, the Colts averaged only 2.9 yards per carry on 19 rushes. Everything else followed: sacks, negative plays, takeaways.
“It started with smashing the run first and foremost to make them one-dimensional,” Watt said. “Just pinning our ears back and going. Playing fast, playing physical football, playing simplified football. It allowed us to make more plays.”
The turnovers kept coming. Two plays after Warren’s touchdown, inside linebacker Payton Wilson intercepted Jones and returned it to the Colts’ 14-yard line. The Steeler again took advantage of the short field with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to tight end Pat Freiermuth, who punted the ball into the stands for good measure.
In the third quarter, the Colts were driving in Steelers territory when Wilson (who was everywhere, with 14 tackles) got his hands on a pass at the line of scrimmage — rookie outside linebacker Jack Sawyer intercepted the deflected pass for the Steelers’ fourth takeaway of the game. The Steelers again made the most of the opportunity when Warren punctuated the seven-play, 56-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run.
It didn’t stop there. Outside linebacker Alex Highsmith added a fifth takeaway in the fourth quarter when he strip-sacked Jones; rookie Derrick Harmon landed on the ball. Finally, Porter made it six when he intercepted Jones late in the game.
“My dad’s been in my ear all week about his boys (from Super Bowl XL) coming into town,” Porter said. “He said, ‘You gotta make your dad proud.’ I’m glad I got that pick for him and did what I did.”
All told, the Steelers won the turnover battle 6-1 and scored 24 of their 27 points off turnovers. In many ways, it was the blueprint for how the Steelers want to play defense. Smash the run. Make teams one-dimensional. Pressure the QB. And, most importantly, take the ball away.
“That’s the lifeblood for us,” Tomlin said when asked about the turnovers. “Not only as a defense, but as a football team. It’s a catalyst for how we engineer victory.”
Though Rodgers said the offense needs to perform better in a lot of ways (they do), this was still one of the Steelers’ most meaningful wins of the season.
“This was a really important win for us — to not lose three in a row, to not go to 1-3 at home and to kind of get that big elephant that was starting to try and jump on the backs of the defense, which is made up of media and outside conversation about them,” Rodgers said. “We’re all human. I think those guys felt pretty upset and a little red-assed about what’s going on. I’m proud of them, the way they came back and responded.”