Heading into the home stretch of their 2025, the Pittsburgh Steelers welcomed the Buffalo Bills into Acrisure Stadium and got blasted, losing 26-7.
- Following the defeat Pat Freiermuth explained, “It sucks. That’s the only way to describe this loss.”
Yes. The Steelers did suck on Sunday. And then some. They’ve now lost 5 of their last 7, and this latest defeat represents the clearest signal to date that the bottoming out process that Mike Tomlin and the franchise have so deftly avoided for 6 years continues to gain momentum.
Mike Tomlin’s long face tells it all. Photo Credit: Aaron Anastasia, Steelers.com
First Half, Ugly, But Above the First Line
When this article hits the internet, 24 hours won’t have even passed his the Steelers 2025 loss to the Bills. But by this point has long forgotten the fact that, for the first 30 minutes, the Steelers played winning football.
- No, they weren’t playing “good” football.
In fact, they were behind the Bills in several statistical categories, but leading in the score – in many ways a reversal of last week’s loss to the Bears, where the Steelers won on the stat sheet everywhere except the point tally.
But the Steelers did a number of things right to earn their lead including:
- Brandin Echols picking off Josh Allen, ending Buffalo’s first drive.
- Nick Herbig forcing the mighty James Cook to fumble, with Patrick Queen recovering
- Kenneth Gainwell making an All Pro catch just above the turf and running it to the Red Zone
- The Steelers defense forced two Bills punts, in addition to those turnovers
And to end the half, the Bills capped off a 16, 7:18 second drive by running 5 plays inside the Pittsburgh’s Red Zone, with the Steelers defense forcing a field goal.
The water stood at the vessel’s halfway line. clearly your defense is doing something wrong if you give up a 16-play, seven-minute plus drive in the NFL; but if your defense can tighten the screws in the Red Zone just enough so that you can force a field goal, there’s also hope.
The question heading into the locker room was which fork in the road would the Steelers take?
Steelers Stumble into 2 Headshots to Start Second Half
The 2025 Pittsburgh Steelers have started 2nd halves of games with leads, only to squander them. One of the biggest constants in those second-half collapses has been disastrous drives to open the third quarter.
- Could the Steelers avoid such a disaster against Buffalo?
No, they couldn’t. No. Instead of feigning a good performance for a couple of snaps, Pittsburgh’s first series of the second half lasted precisely one play, as Joey Bosa strip sacked Aarron Rodgers and Christian Benford recovered, taking it to the house.
Joey Bosa strip sacks Aaron Rodgers. Photo Credit: Bills.com
In just 16 seconds, the Buffalo Bills had taken the lead at Acrisure Stadium.
- With Aaron Rodgers nose busted, Mason Rudolph came in.
Rudolph rescued the Steelers entire season on a cold December night just two years ago, could he do it again? Well, a penalty on the kickoff by Sebastian Castro didn’t help. Nor did a negative run by Jaylen Warren on first down. But an unsportsman like conduct penalty on the Bills moved the ball to the 32 and gave the Steelers a fresh set of downs.
- Jaylen Warren responded with a 4-yard run. A step in the right direction, eh?
AT that point, Arthur Smith decided to take a deep shot. Which is fine. He decided to do it using play action, which is even better. (Nod to my buddy Matt C. Steel, who’ll no doubt remind us that play action out of the shotgun isn’t nearly as effective.)
Mason Rudolph wanted to target Darnell Washington. Again, a very good idea. Washington’s a big target who is very hard to take down. The Bills knew that. Which is why they put three defenders on him. Rudolph threw the ball anyway. Risky, you’re trying to thread a needle. But Washington’s tall. He gives you a big hole on your needle to thread.
And triple coverage be damned, there was a window for Rudolph there. Unfortunately, he missed it, overthrowing Washington and sending directly to Christian Benford, who picked it off.
The Steelers had only run 5 plays in the second half in less than 2 minutes of action, yet they’d still managed to walk into two headshots.
Body Blows: Bills Impose Their Will
Fans of pro wrestling will appreciate this metaphor. The Steelers opening of the second half was somewhat reminiscent to WrestleMania XV’s shoot match between Butterbean and Bart Gunn, where Gunn opened the first round by taking two shots to the head.
- The second shot knocked out Gunn, ending the affair.
By comparison, Bart Gunn was far more fortunate than the Steelers defense, because Gunn got to go home after suffering his second headshot. In contrast, the Steelers defense had to continue to stand in there, and take body blows for the next 28 minutes.
T.J. Watt tries and fails to stop James Cook. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla, Tribune Review
In the first half, James Cook and Ray Davis had shown they could run on the Steelers defense.
In the second half, the duo proved they could impose their will.
Last season, after Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson ridiculed the Steelers run defense in the playoffs, Mike Tomlin and Omar Khan went out and drafted Derrick Harmon and Yahya Black. The Steelers run defense has had its weaknesses at times, but overall its been better, and it did deliver a shutdown performance against the Colts.
- Harmon missed the game with an injury, and the Steelers felt his absence.
But while that may explain a few things, it excuses nothing. The Bills were without their top two tackles. But you wouldn’t have known it had Jim Nanz and Tony Romo not continually reminded us.
- It didn’t matter if the Bills ran inside or ran outside, or which running back they used, Pittsburgh was powerless to stop them.
On their lone non-turnover 3rd quarter possession, the Steelers managed 9 yards on two runs. By the time they got the ball back, they were down 16 points. It was then, in garbage time, that they managed a 10-play drive that ultimately ended in a turnover on downs.
Bottoming Out – Or Full Fledged Free Fall?
Early in the game, before the outcome was clear, Nanz and Romo pointed out that the Steelers had tied Tom Landry’s record of 21 consecutive non-losing seasons. The streak started with Bill Cowher’s 2004 Steelers and has continued since Mike Tomlin arrived.
The story of how Art Rooney II’s troika of Mike Tomlin, Kevin Colbert and Omar Khan have managed to avoid the inevitable bottoming out process for so long is an impressive one, but one for another day.
Because the Pittsburgh Steelers are clearly a team in the process of bottoming out. This reality has been evident for several weeks.
But the loss to the Bills brings up a brutal question: Can Mike Tomlin prevent this bottoming out from becoming a full-fledged a freefall?
