Taken from the notebook of an increasingly pessimistic teacher, here is the Pittsburgh Steelers Report Card for the loss to the 2025 Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday Night Football.
Jalen Ramsey can’t stop Ladd McConky. Photo Credit: IMAGN Images, via Tribune-Review
Quarterbacks
Aaron Rodgers had a bad night. His overall numbers of 16-31-1-2 for 161 are pretty putrid to begin with – and that’s with garbage time glory included. Rodgers was off all night. When he wasn’t overthrowing open receivers and or underthrowing covered receivers he was throwing passes that were too high or too low. Grade: F
Running Backs
Jaylen Warren had 70 yards on 14 carries adding 21 yards on two catches from the air. Kaleb Johnson had 3 yards on two carries. Steelers running backs were OK when they needed them to be special. Grade: C
Tight Ends
Pat Freiermuth had 3 catches, Darnell Washington had 1 and Jonnu Smith and one more plus another that was reverted on replay. Its no coincidence that the one drive where the Steelers feigned a smidgen of rhythm two tight ends caught passes. Still, the Steelers deployed the Jumbo Package and the blocking wasn’t quite there. Grade: C-
Wide Receivers
D.K. Metcalf had 3 catches for 35 yards and two end zone targets – one that was a gimmie touchdown and another on a ball he had next to no chance of catching. Roman Wilson had 3 catches including another garbage time touchdown. Calvin Anderson had 2 catches for 14 yards, but he also let an easy catch bounce off his hands for an interception that effectively killed any chance for a comeback. Rodgers was off target early and often, but it is also clear that this group of receivers struggles to “get open.” Grade: D
Offensive Line
It is starting to look like Isaac Seumalo is the critical member of this unti, as it was not the same without him. Run blocking was OK at times, but the Steelers needed it to be exceptional. More worrisome was the pass blocking. Rodgers was hit 5 times and sacked three times including one for a safety. And Broderick Jones looked bewildered and jinxed all night. Grade: F
Defensive Line
Keeanu Benton with 7 tackles, a sack and another for a loss. Cam Heyward had 6 a tackle for a loss, and a deflected pass. Kimani Vidal actually had a respectable night for the Chargers, but he never came close to disrupting the game the way other running backs have. Grade: B
Linebackers
Two weeks after plenty of talking heads wanted him traded or at least benched Alex Highsmith posted his second consecutive 2 sack game. Patrick Queen led the team and the group with 12 tackles. Malik Harrison had a tackle for a loss and was a force in stopping the run. Nick Herbig had a sack, tackle for a loss and 2 QB hit. T.J. Watt “only” a sack, tackle for a loss, deflected a pass and 3 QB hits. The linebackers played well enough to win. Grade: B+
Secondary
Justin Herbert is one of the better young quarterbacks in the game, yet the Steelers limited him to 220 yards per game, despite Herbert enjoying an overwhelming time of possession advantage. Moving Jalen Ramsey to safety appears to be helping and Kyle Dugger is playing well. Still, Joey Porter Jr. let an interception slip through his hands and the secondary did give up a long run after Rodgers’ first interception. The Steelers needed spectacular secondary play, not good* performance. Grade: B-
Special Teams
We forgot this now, but T.J. Watt actually answered Donte Jackson’s interception with a punt-forcing sack 3 plays later. Unfortunately, Ke’Shawn Williams when the Steelers theoretically could have still made a comeback. Chris Boswell knocked in a 59 yarder only to miss a 45er. Yeah, it was that kinda night. Grade: F
Coaching
A week ago Teryl Austin’s unit shut down a Colts offense that had been galloping through other NFL defenses. They did it with a heavy dose of turnovers. Against the Chargers they went out against one of the league’s rising young quarterbacks and, although they did give up a long play, they played well enough to win, albeit while leaving turnovers on the field. So far so good.
- Alas, Arthur Smith’s offense is a mess.
Throughout the season his unit hasn’t been effective in establishing a rhythm, has faltered too much on possession downs and their time of possession has been atrocious. Despite that Smith has more often than not found ways to make it work.
Steelers offense for example has capitalized on turnovers, converted the Red Zone and otherwise gotten far enough into opponent’s territory to allow Chris Boswell to knock in enough field goals so that the Steelers score when they need to.
It is clear after watching the Chargers game that the key component to this was Aaron Rodgers making just enough of the critical throws make all this happen.
Rodgers failed to do this against the Chargers and, in tandem, rest of the offense failed to pick up the slack.
How much of that is due to scheme and how much of that is tied to personnel decisions remains an open question. But as Mike Tomlin has a clear voice in both, he shoulders the blame. Grade: D
Body Slam! Photo Credit: NFL.com
Unsung Hero Award
He was a former starter who got benched, was allowed to leave in free agency, got cut by his new team, returned, was resigned, then cut, then signed to the practice squad then quickly activated. A concussion thrust him into the starting role and batted away two passes while delivering a WWF (or WWE) style body slam tackle, and for that James Pierre wins the Unsung Hero Award for the Steelers loss to the Chargers at SoFi Stadium.
