The Pittsburgh Steelers went into the season expecting DK Metcalf to be a major answer in the passing game. Instead, two weeks in, he looks like a problem they can’t escape.
Metcalf followed a rough opener against the Atlanta Falcons with an even rougher performance in Pittsburgh’s 20-3 loss to the New England Patriots. He finished with four catches for 27 yards on nine targets, but the box score doesn’t fully capture how bleak it looked. At one point, he had only two receiving yards on five targets before piling up some late production once the game was already out of reach.
That puts him in the middle of the worst two-game stretch of his NFL career.
The Steelers made a major bet on Metcalf last offseason, sending away a valuable second-round pick and then giving him $33 million per year in new annual value. Right now, that deal is looking ugly.
After two games in 2026, he has eight receptions on 19 targets for 67 yards, along with a handful of dropped passes. Aaron Rodgers has a 51.8 passer rating when targeting him.
It’s a brutal start for a receiver who was already coming off the least-productive season of his career. Last year, Metcalf posted 59 catches on 99 targets for 850 yards and six touchdowns.
And the Steelers have bigger issues around him, too. Rodgers was under siege in Week 2, the offensive line has been awful in protection, and the offense as a whole has struggled to get moving. But Metcalf’s struggles are impossible to miss because of the investment Pittsburgh made in him and the lack of other reliable options in the passing game.
For now, the Steelers are stuck trying to make it work with a receiver who has been wildly inefficient and unreliable early in 2026.
In Other News...
Aaron Rodgers Just Created Another Steelers Distraction Off The Field
Aaron Rodgers spent part of a recent podcast revisiting the end of his broken engagement to Shailene Woodley, and the discussion quickly spilled into the kind of off-field conversation that can follow a quarterback anywhere. Rodgers said Woodley asked for permission to be with another man shortly after his proposal, a revelation that immediately pushed the story beyond a private breakup and into the public debate that tends to follow high-profile athletes.
Joy Taylor then took Rodgers to task on her show for choosing to air those details, and the reaction online split just as quickly as the topic itself. Woodley has mostly stayed silent, while Rodgers keeps his attention on football, but the episode still added another layer of noise around a player whose every word tends to travel well beyond the field. [Read more 🡒]
Steelers Run Game Concern Just Got Even More Serious
Pittsburghs run game was already under a bright light after a sluggish start through the first two weeks, and Sunday only added to the concern. Late in the first half against the New England Patriots, running back Rico Dowdle exited after suffering a toe injury on a sack-fumble play, leaving the Steelers to sort through another setback in a ground attack that has not provided much help.
Dowdle was listed as questionable to return, and if he cannot, Jaylen Warren is the next man up to handle most of the carries. For a Steelers offense still looking for consistency on the ground, losing another back in the middle of a game only sharpens the focus on how quickly the rushing plan can stabilize. [Read more 🡒]
Steelers Drive Turned Into A Bizarre Mess Fans Need To See
The second quarter of the Steelers Week 2 matchup in New England delivered one of those drives that seemed to unravel in real time. On a third-and-seven play, Christian Elliss forced the ball loose, and the fumble took on a life of its own as it bounced behind the line of scrimmage and set off a scramble involving multiple players before Troy Fautanu finally came away with it.
Even after the recovery, Pittsburgh was left staring at a 4th-and-43, a rare and ugly spot that summed up how badly the possession had gone off the rails. For a team trying to settle into the game and protect its rhythm, the sequence was the kind of chaos that fans replay because it is hard to believe on first watch. [Read more 🡒]