The Pittsburgh Steelers had plenty of chances to get the win against the Green Bay Packers in Week 4, but once again missed opportunities. The defense could not catch a break and also could not catch up with the Packers offense. A strong game from Najee Harris and Diontae Johnson wasn’t enough, as the Steelers fell 27-17 on Sunday. From the beginning, the Steelers knew that Sunday’s game was not going to be easy. They had to go up against the dangerous duo of Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams, and a stingy Packers defense. The Steelers had a nice tempo early, scoring on their first drive. They kept the game close for a while before Green Bay scored fourteen straight points out of halftime. Plenty of missed opportunities and chances on both offense and defense headlined the Steelers 27-17 defeat.
Missed Opportunities, Controversy Headline Pittsburgh Steelers Week 4 Loss to Green Bay Packers
Game Summary
The Steelers got off to a nice start, scoring on their first drive. This was the first time all season that Pittsburgh had scored in the first quarter. Najee Harris had a few nice runs, including a ten-yard run and a two-yard run that gained a crucial first down. Then, Ben Roethlisberger threw a 45-yard dot to Diontae Johnson for a touchdown, which was Johnson’s second of the season. The Packers then scored two touchdowns to make the score 14-7. Rodgers had a four-yard touchdown run and then threw a twenty-three-yard score to Randall Cobb. The Steelers answered with a 52-yard field goal made by Chris Boswell, who is off to an impressive start.
On the ensuing Packers drive, Green Bay traveled 76 yards down the field before being stalled. They lined up for a thirty-one field goal on fourth down, and then a critical play happened. Steelers corner Joe Haden and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick broke through the line and Fitzpatrick blocked the kick. He then scooped up the fumble and returned it 75 yards for a touchdown. It originally made the score 17-14, but then a penalty flag was seen back where the kick occurred. The referees had flagged Joe Haden for being offsides and therefore nullified the touchdown. The Packers made the field goal after the penalty and made the score 17-10 at the half.
A field goal and another Randall Cobb touchdown out of the gate in the second half gave Green Bay a 27-10 lead. After multiple turnovers-on-downs and a punt, the Steelers drove 65 yards down the field and Najee Harris punched it in from one yard out. This made the score 27-17 and ended the game’s scoring.
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Missed Opportunities From Ben Roethlisberger
Ben Roethlisberger once again missed many opportunities that could have changed the game had they been executed. Big Ben finished with 232 passing yards on a 26/40 passing day. He threw one touchdown and one interception, making his TD/INT ratio on the year at four touchdowns to four interceptions. Roethlisberger missed many chances on some crucial throws, including two to JuJu Smith-Schuster, one of which would have resulted in a big gain and the other in a touchdown. Big Ben overthrew both of those passes, and also missed pretty badly on some other throws as well. Roethlisberger is obviously still a leader for the Steelers but his play is hurting them more than it is helping.
Many Steelers fans have mixed feelings; they believe that Roethlisberger is dragging the team down but it wouldn’t be right to just get rid of their Super Bowl-winning quarterback. Whatever the feelings towards Roethlisberger are, the season has to continue and decisions have to and will be made soon regarding the future of the Steelers.
Offensive Line
The offensive line wasn’t exactly great, but they did not play as badly as in previous weeks. The line only gave up two sacks, and one of those could have been easily avoided had Big Ben thrown the ball away instead of taking the sack. The line helped rookie running back Najee Harris get 62 yards on fifteen carries for an average of 4.1 yards per carry. It is clear that there are minor improvements each and every week, but fans are still waiting for a major boost in production.
Najee Harris and the Receivers
Once again, the Steelers skill position players excelled with Najee Harris and Diontae Johnson leading the way. Harris had a nice game and really used his strength and athleticism to create some space for himself. Harris’ rushing touchdown was his first of the season and of his career. Johnson finished with nine catches for 92 yards and a touchdown. James Washington also stepped up after Chase Claypool was ruled out before Sunday’s game. Washington had four catches for 69 yards, including a thirty-yard catch.
JuJu Smith-Schuster only had two catches for eleven yards and had eight total targets. Smith-Schuster could not catch a break, falling victim to many of Big Ben’s poor throws. His frustration was seen after a video surfaced of him slamming down a tablet on the sideline. Smith-Schuster is averaging just 4.3 catches and 32.3 yards per game this season and he has not yet found the end zone. Just like many of Pittsburgh’s players, many Steelers fans are upset, disappointed, and even mad with the Steelers lackluster performances so far this season.
The Defense
Despite two sacks and two tackles-for-loss from T.J. Watt and a fairly nice pass defense, the Steelers defense struggled against the Packers weapons. Aaron Rodgers didn’t have a great game but he still played well, tallying 248 yards and three total touchdowns (two passing, one rushing). The Steelers did allow Randall Cobb two touchdowns but held number one wideout, Davante Adams, to six catches on 64 yards. Linebacker Devin Bush also recorded a sack and Joe Schobert, Haden, and Isaiah Loudermilk each deflected a pass.
Poor Play Calling Leads to Turnovers
Many of the plays called by Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada were questionable and resulted in unsuccessful plays. There was one fourth and five play where JuJu Smith-Schuster caught a pass one yard past the line of scrimmage and fought to get the additional four but only got about 1.5 yards. This was just one example of the terrible play calls on Sunday. Obviously, it isn’t advised to take a shot on every play but a pass for at least five to ten yards could have been used in this situation.
Controversy
One of the main controversies was Minkah Fitzpatrick’s called-back field goal block, where Joe Haden was deemed offsides by the officials. After watching the replay, it was pretty evident that Haden got a fair, good jump without being offsides. The Green Bay long snapper slowly moved the ball, but a play is ruled to begin when the ball begins moving. Thus, even if other players did not move, both the offense and the defense had the right to begin moving without a penalty.
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CBS rules analyst and former NFL official Gene Steratore joined the broadcast to give his opinion. Steratore said he believed that Haden was not offsides and that the play should have stood. Even Joe Haden took to Twitter after the game, tweeting “I wasn’t offsides” (Joe Haden on Twitter: “I wasn’t offsides.” / Twitter). If the play had stood and the Steelers were awarded a touchdown, it certainly would have changed the momentum of the game but likely not the outcome.
Had the play stood, the Steelers most likely would have taken a 17-14 lead into half and maybe even held on to win. But with the way Ben Roethlisberger played in the second half, it is unlikely that play would have made a real difference in the final outcome.
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