An NFL game is 4 quarters of 15 minutes apiece. Sunday's contained 119 offensive plays and lasted 3 hours and 5 minutes. It's typically foolish to believe any NFL game is won or lost in the first quarter, but this time it provided an ominous preview of how the rest of Steelers-Chargers would unfold.
The opening kickoff by Cameron Dicker sailed out of bounds, so the Steelers started at their 40-yard line. Excellent field position. That bit of good fortune didn't last a single snap, because left guard Andrus Peat — starting in place of the injured Isaac Seumalo — was flagged for a false start.
The Steelers offense went 3-and-out — the first of five times one of their possessions ended after 3 plays. Corliss Waitman punted to the Chargers 11-yard line, the defense did its job and forced a 3-and-out, and the offense was back for a second shot at it.
On third-and-5 from the Chargers 41-yard line, Aaron Rodgers had DK Metcalf open deep, but he overthrew him. The way Rodgers had been playing through, that's probably a touchdown and a 7-0 lead, but not on Sunday night at SoFi Stadium. Which, by the way, was being inhabited by enough black-and-gold to make it a separate city within Steelers Nation.
But OK, Chris Boswell comes out and drills a 59-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. Not ideal, but establishing superiority in the kicking game matters, too.
After the kickoff, the Chargers needed 6 plays to gain 18 yards and then stared at a third-and-3 from their 49-yard line. "Stare" is appropriate for what was about to happen, because Justin Herbert did exactly that on a pass intended for Keenan Allen but instead hit Joey Porter Jr. in the hands. Porter dropped it. What would have been a timely takeaway giving the ball back to the offense around midfield turned into a disaster three plays after the Chargers punt that never would have been necessary if not for the giveaway of that takeaway.
JK Scott's punt was downed at the 6-yard line, and on third-and-7 from the 9-yard line Rodgers was sacked in the end zone by Khalil Mack for a safety. Suddenly, it's 3-2, and it's starting to feel like one of those ugly street fights where nobody gets out of it looking good.
Still, the defense is carrying the weight, and the Chargers go three-and-out. The Steelers get the ball back, and their offense takes the field and starts clicking. Rodgers hooks up with Metcalf for 19 yards, then Jaylen Warren runs for 4, then Rodgers throws a laser to Darnell Washington down the middle for 15, then it's Warren again for 9, and the first quarter ends with Warren gaining 3 on second-and-1 from the Chargers 32-yard line.
The second quarter opens with a 9-yard completion to Pat Freiermuth, and then the bottom falls out.
On second-and-1 from the Chargers 20-yard line, a 7-yard run by Kaleb Johnson is wiped out by a holding penalty called on Troy Fautanu that could've been called on Mason McCormick. Then Rodgers has Jonnu Smith wide open but his throw is high and outside, and even after Smith climbs the ladder, the 18-yard completion ends up reversed on review. So instead of being at the 13-yard line after the run, or at the 11-yard line at the worst after the pass, it's third-and-10 from the 30-yard line.
Play it safe there and move a little closer for Boswell, but then he misses wide right on a 45-yard attempt in pristine conditions. There was still 13:10 left in the second quarter and then a whole other half of football after that, but the Steelers had committed the mortal sin of getting the better of the first 16 minutes of play but not taking advantage of it.
And if there is anything that's a harbinger of defeat, it's getting the better of the play but not taking advantage of it. The Steelers wouldn't score another point until there was 3 minutes left in the fourth quarter and they were down by 22.
"It wasn't until the fourth quarter before we converted a third down (0-for-9 on the way to finishing 2-for-11) and you're not going to win a football game when you can't convert on third down and you lose the turnover battle (minus-3)," said Coach Mike Tomlin. "We'll be back. We'll be better. We certainly have to be, but we weren't tonight."
In terms of a 51.6 completion percentage and a 50.6 passer rating, it was Rodgers' worst game of 2025, and the visual was worse than the numbers. One of his strengths has been the ability/knack to move around in the pocket to spy receivers and deliver the ball accurately and on time. That wasn't happening on Sunday night.
Rodgers came into the game completing 68.7 percent, with a 17-to-7 touchdown-to-interception ratio. The offense had a 38.2 conversion rate on third down, and Rodgers had 20 passing plays of 20-or-more yards. Against the Chargers he completed 51.6 percent and had a 1-to-2 touchdown-to-interception ratio. The third down conversion rate was 18.2 percent, and Rodgers had 1 passing play of 20-or-more yards.
"I expect to play great every single week, and this was not my best performance," said Rodgers. "I have to play better for us to win. Whatever it takes. If it's better checks, if it's better throws, whatever it is. I have to play better. I will."
He has to, because this offense cannot work without him. A receiving corps that's TE-centric and lacking proven playmakers at WR behind Metcalf, with a running attack best suited to support/complement requires a quarterback like Rodgers to engineer the number of points necessary to win in November and beyond.
In the 12 games played on Sunday, only 1 of the winning teams scored fewer than 20 points, and 5 of the winners scored 30-or-more. The winners of Sunday's games averaged 31.3. The Steelers arrived Sunday averaging 25.3 points per, which is at the low end of "good enough," and so 10 was well below the line.
That needs to change, because as bad as that loss looked on Sunday and felt on Monday, nothing is over. There are 8 games left, and each goal they had on arrival day at Saint Vincent College is still a possibility.
"But we gotta bounce back," said Rodgers. "We have a division opponent next week, we're 5-4 and ahead by a game in the division. We gotta play better on offense for sure … but there are ebbs and flows, there are ups and downs, and we can't ride the wave. I felt our energy – and it starts with me – wasn't great on offense. We were struggling a little bit, and we just couldn't get a play to get us going."
Next Sunday brings the Bengals to Acrisure Stadium for a rematch of that forgettable Thursday night in mid-October, and there are 3 more division games after that, including the home-and-home with the second-place Ravens. Plus a date with Buffalo and a trip to Detroit.
As Rodgers said, the offense has to play better, and "better" needs to be scoring into the high-20s consistently. And that cannot happen without the Aaron Rodgers of the first 8 games of this season.
