Airing of Grievances: Wasted comeback, defensive debacles, red-zone mishaps stand out in painful Steelers loss to Chargers
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I can sum up Sunday night’s Pittsburgh Steelers (5-4-1) loss to the Los Angeles Chargers (6-4) in three words: What a waste!
A game-long defensive debacle by a diminished Steelers depth chart wiped out what may have gone down as one of the great Steelers comebacks in team history, as they fell 41-37.
Down 27-10 in the fourth quarter, the Steelers scored 27 points in the final frame and found themselves winning 37-34 with 3:24 left in the game after a Chris Boswell field goal.
But the lead lasted all of three plays into Los Angeles’ next drive when the Chargers scored what proved to be the game-winning touchdown on blown coverage by the Steelers.
THIS GAME!
Mike Williams takes it 53 yards to the house to give the @chargers the LEAD!
: NBC and @peacockTV
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) November 22, 2021
In an instant, so much of what went into their comeback was erased.
• A blocked punt by Miles Killebrew on the Chargers’ first punt of the evening.
• Cameron Heyward’s pass deflection and Cameron Sutton’s ensuing interception.
• A great night from Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool (a combined 12 catches for 194 yards).
• Ben Roethlisberger posting a passer rating of 103.7 behind three touchdowns and no interceptions.
Those were all “Feats of Strength” from this game’s highlight reel that were left on the cutting room floor. As a result, let’s get to our “Airing of Grievances.”
In-defense-ible: The injury-depleted Steelers defense was no match for quarterback Justin Herbert and the Chargers offense.
No T.J. Watt. No Minkah Fitzpatrick. No Joe Haden. No Stephon Tuitt. No Tyson Alualu.
No hope.
“We didn’t have a good enough plan tonight for our current makeup and state,” Tomlin said of playing without so many defensive starters. “We couldn’t get enough stops defensively. We couldn’t apply pressure with our four-man rush or keep him in the pocket. We weren’t good enough in coverage with less than seven.”
The Chargers scored on their first five drives. Los Angeles’ offense totaled 533 yards (374 passing, 159 rushing). L.A. ran 69 plays and picked up 7.7 yards per snap.
According to the Steelers radio broadcast after the game, Herbert is the first quarterback in the NFL to have over 380 passing yards and 90 rushing yards in a game.
When the likes of Derrek Tuszka, Karl Joseph, Daniel Archibong, Ahkello Witherspoon and Delontae Scott are trying to slow the likes of Herbert, Keenan Allen and Austin Ekeler, it’s not going to end well.
Red-zone regret: On their second offensive series, the Steelers made it to the Chargers’ 5-yard line with a first-and-goal.
They tried a run with Claypool on first down. It only got three yards. Another run with Najee Harris yielded nothing. A third-down pass to Claypool went incomplete.
Then on fourth down, they tried this abomination of a play to tight end Pat Freiermuth. It appears the pre-snap motion with Harris fooled nobody.
The Steelers had a 57% chance of converting the 4th and 2…but the Chargers had other ideas. #NextGenStats powered by @awscloud. pic.twitter.com/RAC5Xz0pwx
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) November 22, 2021
Only the Steelers could design a play that could somehow target a receiver short of the line to gain when it is fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line. That’s almost impossible for the mind to grasp. But they did it.
the Steelers lead the NFL in 4th down passes thrown short of the line of scrimmage
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) November 22, 2021
the Steelers now have FOUR completed fourth down passes which failed to convert a first down. The rest of the NFL has nine total
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) November 22, 2021
At least, I’m not the only one complaining about the Steelers’ insistence on throwing short of the sticks.
Not just defense: For as bad as the defense was, the offense had shortcomings besides that failed red-zone sequence. Like when it ran just 19 seconds off the clock following Sutton’s interception at the 34-yard line of the Chargers.
Then there was some horrid pass protection for Roethlisberger on the Steelers’ last possession following Mike Williams’ touchdown. Roethlisberger absorbed two of his three sacks during that sequence.
Also, the Steelers only got 55 rushing yards against a rush defense that was the worst in the NFL entering this week’s play (155 yards per game). Harris was limited to 39 yards after getting 105 last week.
“Our inability to stop them or slow them down really limited his impact on the game tonight,” Tomlin said of Harris.
The Steelers were playing catch up most of the game. So they probably couldn’t run as much as they wanted. But a failure to do so when they needed it early on also prevented the Chargers offense from staying on the sidelines.
Take a look around: It was bad timing for a bad game. The Steelers’ loss Sunday night followed an afternoon that featured every other AFC North team winning.
The Baltimore Ravens (7-3) and Cleveland Browns (6-5) didn’t look particularly good doing so. But at least they were victorious.
Baltimore squeaked by the Chicago Bears (3-7) 16-13 without starting quarterback Lamar Jackson. Meanwhile, Cleveland scratched out a 13-10 win over the still winless (0-9-1) Detroit Lions.
As for next week’s opponent, the Cincinnati Bengals (6-4), they thumped the Las Vegas Raiders (5-5) 32-13.
So, let’s ditch the “yeah, but everyone else in the division/conference is struggling, too” excuse that was rolled out after the embarrassing 16-16 tie with the Lions last week.
“I don’t worry about the Joneses. I stay focused on what we do. If we step in stadiums and win games, we don’t have to look around,” Tomlin said.
Well, if they lose to the Bengals next week, they may not want to look at the standings again for the rest of the year.
How do you miss those?: The officials missed two blatant head shot penalties against the Chargers.
Harris got blasted in the head by Kyzir White’s elbow, and there was no call. Then, after Sutton’s interception in the fourth quarter, he got plowed in the helmet by Storm Norton.
The slightest, inconsequential tap on the head of a quarterback draws a flag. Those two plays were obvious and more dangerous than a lot of the flags quarterbacks draw in the pocket.
The inequity of protection in the NFL for quarterbacks versus some other position players is disgusting.
Not as bad as the Steelers defense Sunday night. But still, pretty bad.