This was definitely not the plan. Not when training camp opened. Not when the regular season began. But 11 weeks into their 2025 regular season, in their 10th game and second in the annual home-and-home with the Cincinnati Bengals, the Steelers found themselves forced off script.
Starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who was signed to be, and had been, the hub of their offense all along, was injured at the end of the first half; and Mason Rudolph, who hadn't taken a snap all season and hadn't take a snap for the Steelers since Week 17 in 2023, was running the show. Starting running back Jaylen Warren, whose recent play was worthy of more touches than he had been getting, was on the sideline with an ankle injury after rushing for 54 yards in 8 carries in the first half, and Kenneth Gainwell, added as a veteran UFA in March and cast as a utility player when the season began, was the bell-cow in a game they desperately needed to win.
Flip it over to the defense — same thing, just different names and situations. The secondary opened the regular season with a lot of NFL experience and interchangeable parts. By the time they faced off against Joe Flacco for the second time in a calendar month, you really did need a program to know who those guys were.
James Pierre wasn't on the initial 53-man roster at the end of August, but he was starting on Sunday and required to help minimize the best starting WR tandem in the league. Darius Slay was a starting CB in the opener against the Jets, but he was in the concussion protocol and inactive. DeShon Elliott was on injured reserve. Juan Thornhill, who had played 54 of the 64 total defensive snaps in the opener, had been phased out and then waived after the trading deadline.
Kyle Dugger was acquired in a trade on Oct. 28 and had played 99 percent of the defensive snaps in his first two games with the team. Once Jalen Ramsey had been ejected in the fourth quarter for what video posted by Fox 19 Sports Photographer Austin Briski showed to be a punch thrown at Ja'Marr Chase after Chase spit on him, the DBs on the field for the Steelers – well, let's just say that the group on the field had never been the plan for a Nov. 16 date with a division opponent averaging 32.8 points over its previous 4 games.
But that's what they had. And it was good enough for a victory that was critical in every way except mathematical because there still would be 7 games left. The 4-1 Steelers had lost 3-of-4 to become the 5-4 Steelers, who looked like a group incapable of playing complementary football consistently. What had been a 3-and-a-half-game lead over the Ravens in the AFC North was down to a 1-game lead, and Baltimore had won 3 in a row.
If the Steelers had lost to the Bengals to drop to 5-5 overall and 1-2 within the division, they would have been in a tie-for-first with the Ravens, and those are not the numbers they wanted to be lugging into a fortnight offering a trip to Chicago (7-3) followed by a home date with Buffalo (7-3), while the Ravens' schedule showed games vs. the Jets (2-8) and the Bengals (3-7 and coming to back to earth after that initial bump from the Joe Flacco trade).
Instead the Steelers won, and by the comfortable margin of 34-12, because every single guy who needed to come through found a way to do so.
That included an offense without Rodgers and Warren putting together back-to-back drives lasting 27 plays and gaining 126 net yards, with 9 first downs that consumed 13:48 of the clock, and produced 10 points.
On defense, the splash came from a 73-yard pick-6 by Dugger, the most recent arrival, and a 34-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Pierre, who averaged 9 snaps on defense through the season's first 8 games. Not to be ignored was the kind of down-in-down-out solid play that after Pierre's touchdown, there still was 3:22 remaining in the fourth quarter, and the "utility back" had 7 catches for 81 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins had combined for 77 receiving yards and 1 touchdown.
"I knew he was on a Super Bowl winner last year and I knew his game, but I didn't know how versatile and how great of a pass catcher Kenny is," said Rudolph. "The extra effort to get in the end zone on that touchdown pass in the flat was huge. DK (Metcalf) had a couple catches over the middle … and then Roman Wilson on an out-breaker on third-and-11. Credit to Arthur (Smith) for putting all those guys in the right spots and having confidence in me to let me throw it."
Also to be noted was the YAC turned in by Darnell Washington on his 4 catches for 67 yards (16.8 average) and by Pat Freiermuth on his 19-yard catch on a second-and-11.
"You've got to be able to throw short and run long sometimes, win conversions in that fashion, flip fields in that fashion," said Coach Mike Tomlin. "So there were a lot of guys who contributed to that."
Ditto for the defense. Besides the aforementioned 2 defensive TDs on 2 takeaways, the unit held Flacco to 199 passing yards, his lowest total with the Bengals; allowed 1 run of 35 yards but otherwise kept the Bengals ground game at 3.3 yards per attempt; and had Cincinnati go 0-for-2 in the red zone.
"I thought we certainly fought hard. We played hard," said Tomlin. "In some instances we could have played smarter, so there's individual and collective learning that needs to happen, but that's life. It's good to learn with a win. I can't say enough about the collective effort. We got challenged in a lot of ways, but you're going to get challenged in the National Football League. It's just good to get a win and get back on the right side of things coming off a poor performance (vs. the Chargers) and a loss the last time we saw these guys.
"It's doubly satisfying from that perspective."
Yes, but this one also was affirming and revealing.
"Next man up" begins as a motto, a goal, a hope that a group of 53 will work toward making it more than a slogan on a T-shirt. That's what it was on Sunday against the Bengals, and it happened when they needed it most.
Now, the journey continues but with the knowledge they are capable because they did it once. There's a confidence there as a result, which is an important quality to have once the schedule gets into the second half of November.
"It feels good right now, but it's about what happens moving forward, and it always is," said Tomlin. "That's just the nature of this thing. It's sweet today. Tomorrow we go back to work because there's big business waiting on us next week."
