Steelers Sweep Brings Cold Reality to Aaron Rodgers and Company Pittsburgh Steelers Fall 25-10 to Chargers in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES — It was also a bad Sunday night for the Pittsburgh Steelers and their marquee quarterback, Aaron Rodgers. The Steelers fell to the Los Angeles Chargers, 25-10, and Rodgers experienced one of his toughest games since he joined the organization.
After the game, head coach Mike Tomlin sounded exasperated when asked about Rodgers’ two interceptions and one touchdown. He frowned, gazed deep into his eyes and replied “And who is that do ye? Next.”
Rodgers finished 16 of 31 for 161 yards. He completed 51.6 percent of his throws, his lowest rate in any game over the last five seasons. It was, without a doubt, the worst game of his nine-game Pittsburgh Steelers career.
Tomlin didn’t blame anyone in particular, but he acknowledged that the entire offense seemed out of sync.
“We all collectively as an offensive unit stunk today,” Tomlin said. “He’s a component of that. I’ll let him speak for himself, but we have to be better.” Awards Best Response to Action 1 The Chargers did not overreact. They just outplayed us, particularly on third down.”
Rodgers was not without candor, either. He took full responsibility.
“This was not the best I’ve played,” Rodgers conceded. “I need to play better than this for us to win. Anything it is — better throws, better checks — I got to do it.” This is part of the season. There are ups and downs. We can’t ride the wave.”
It was also an emotional evening for Rodgers. Once 41, this may have been his last game in his home state of California. But it was not the homecoming he craved. Nothing went his way from the first drive on.
Two quick completions to Jaylen Warren and Calvin Austin were followed by an explosive completion dropped by Rodgers after scrambling under duress. It was the start of a very long night. The Pittsburgh Steelers then proceeded to flub nine consecutive third-down conversions before converting two late in the game during garbage time.
The Chargers defense made Rodgers feel uncomfortable all night. He was sacked three times and hit a handful more. One of those sacks, by veteran pass rusher Khalil Mack, brought Rodgers down in the end zone for a safety early in the game that gave the Chargers two points.
“I didn’t feel like I had a ton of guys open,” Rodgers said of the safety. “When I threw the ball, I saw Mack and I didn’t quite realize he broke free. “I should’ve just dumped the ball away.”
Rodgers’ irritation increased during the game. He made several attempts to connect with wide receiver DK Metcalf but failed. Rodgers was just 3 of 7 for 35 yards when throwing in Metcalf’s direction. Then in the second quarter, he threw an interception with Metcalf as one of his targets. The pass was high and directly into the waiting hands of Chargers rookie RJ Mickens.
Rodgers was 0-for-5 on passes thrown at least 15 yards downfield. And his most dangerous tool, the deep ball, just wasn’t there.
“A lot of stuff wasn’t working,” Rodgers said. “We were bad on third down. I missed DK early on a play that could have been big. I just misfired on some of the throws that I normally hit.”
There were a couple of glimmers, though. Rodgers may have scored in the second quarter had he not hit a streak of throwing short flips to his receiver, including with Metcalf and Darnell Washington and tight end Pat Freiermuth. But the drive stalled in the red zone following a holding penalty and a dropped pass. And Chris Boswell missed the long field goal attempt, there would be no points for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
That cruel twist of fate captured the night. Whenever the Steelers built some momentum, a mistake snatched it away — an errant throw, a penalty and a third-down conversion failure.
Rodgers attempted to intercept the offense in the fourth quarter. With the team trailing by 12, he lofted a pass toward Metcalf in the end zone on fourth down. The pass was batted away to end the drive. The Chargers promptly drove 90 yards for a touchdown on their way to a 25-10 victory.
“I probably should have thrown it the other side,” Rodgers said of the failed fourth-down play. “DK was doubled. I didn’t have to make it a perfect throw right there; I should’ve gone back shoulder or found something.”
Even as his team had stumbled, Coach Tomlin could still project that the best was yet to come. The defeat narrowed the Steelers’ advantage over the Baltimore Ravens in the A.F.C. North to just one game, but Tomlin was not hitting the panic button.
“It is not a lack of confidence,” Tomlin said unequivocally. “We stunk it up tonight. We’ll be back.”
Rodgers vowed, too, to rebound. “We’ll fix it,” he said. “We’ve got to play better on offense, that’s for sure. But that’s football. You have bad nights. You learn, and you move on.”
The Pittsburgh Steelers have dropped three of their past four games and the offense has been shaky in all of them. Questions are arising whether Rodgers, now in his 40s, can sustain playing at such a high level every week. But if history is any indicator, Rodgers also knows how to bounce back after difficult performances.
It will be another test for him and the Pittsburgh Steelers next week, as they work to get right and keep their playoff hopes alive.
For now, however Sunday night in Los Angeles will be remembered as one of the most difficult performances of Rodgers’ long and storied career.
