PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Dealing with injuries to impact defensive players TJ Watt, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Joe Haden and already without Stephon Tuitt and Tyson Alualu. The Chargers were rolling up 27-10 early in the fourth quarter, when the Steelers came roaring back and took a three-point lead with 3:29 to play.
Just when the Steelers road crowd had the stadium going, a brutal defensive mistake as it appeared rookie safety Tre Norwood, filling in for Fitzpatrick, blew a coverage on Mike Williams and he went 53 yards as the Chargers took the lead and eventually won, 41-37.
Steelers had plenty of time to answer with just over two minutes to play, but a pair of sacks both against third string guard Joe Haeg forced a third and fourth and long that the team couldn’t convert.
“Ohh, that was a tough one,” Tomlin said. “I’m very appreciative of the effort of our guys, the way they stayed in it and fought. We didn’t have a good enough plan with our current make-up and state. 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.”
Chargers were unstoppable until the last 13 minutes, scoring on every possession and leading 27-10 early in the fourth quarter. Justin Herbert combined for 472 yards in torching the beat-up Pittsburgh defense than included Ahkello Witherspoon, Daniel Archibong, Delontae Scott and Karl Jospeh taking meaningful snaps.
As much as Herbert hurt the Steelers with 382 yards passing it was the scrambles and the 90 yards rushing that converted some third downs and keyed some scoring drives.
“We just weren’t effective of keeping him in the pocket,” Tomlin said. “It was us today. It was about what we did or did not do. No disrespect to those guys, they played and played well and won the football game. We didn’t rush well enough. We didn’t keep them in the pocket and we weren’t tight enough in coverage.”
Tailback Austin Ekeler scored four touchdowns, a pair on the ground and a pair of receptions.
Receiver Keenan Allen didn’t score, but caught nine passes for 112 yards, Williams finished with five catches for 97 yards. Ekeler caught four other passes that weren’t touchdowns for a total of 65 yards.
Steelers allowed Los Angeles to convert six of eight third downs. Chargers also had 26 first downs.
The Comeback
Steelers drove into the fourth quarter with Chris Boswell kicking a 36-yard field goal at the 14:14 mark to cut the lead to two touchdowns.
The momentum really shifted as the Steelers forced the first punt of the night. Little thought of free agent pick-up Miles Killebrew came through the middle for his second block of the season. Killebrew would have scooped and scored if he would have had a better bounce.
Even then it wasn’t easy for the Steelers, from the two-yard line they needed a fourth down interference call to give them a first and goal from the one.
By some miracle, the Steelers used fullback Derek Watt in an eye formation and Zach Banner as an extra blocked. They helped clear the way for Najee Harris to score jumping over the pile to cut the lead to a touchdown with nearly 12 minutes to play. Steelers down seven.
Chargers would drive right down the field on the next series, the key play a 36-yard scramble by Herbert on 3rd and 5. Ekeler went in on a five-yard run on the next play.
Steelers answered with a 75-yard drive in just under four minutes as Roethlisberger found Eric Ebron with a short pass at the three and the tight end muscled the final few yards to cut it to a one score lead again with around five minutes to play.
Getting extra attention all night, Cam Heyward backs off the rush on the ensuing Chargers series and gets into the passing lane, the ball knocked up in the air off his head and Cam Sutton comes down with the interception. A roughing the passer call on Joey Bosa, gives the Steelers a first down and Roethlisberger hits Pat Freiermuth on a tight end screen at the six. Chukwuma Okorafor gets a seal block, freeing the rookie to tie with game with 4:23 to play.
Defense steps up again, Joe Schobert shooting the gap as the Chargers went for it on fourth and 1 from their own 34-yard line. No gain and the Steelers set up in Chargers territory with the game tied. Steelers couldn’t move it, with a defensive pass interference call waived off in what the refs said was an uncatchable pass. Boswell did give them with lead with a 45-yarder. It’s 37-34 Steelers scoring 24 points in the quarter.
The Williams TD and the two sacks would end it.
Returning after missing practice all week due to having COVID-19, Roethlisberger was 28 of 44 for 273 yards and three touchdowns. Najee Harris rushed only 12 times for 39 yards. Diontae Johnson caught seven passes for 101 yards and an outstanding TD catch. Chase Claypool caught five passes for 93 yards after missing last week with a toe injury.
“You have hope regardless of your record,” Roethlisberger said of his 5-4-1 team. “There’s a few games left and I feel like the AFC is still anybody’s game.”