The Steelers left Tampa with a 26-19 overtime win, but there was nothing polished about it. For long stretches, this looked like exactly the kind of game that should have slipped away. Instead, Pittsburgh survived a mess of a day, then finished it off in overtime after three quarters of rough football and a late stretch of clock management that turned the final minute into a rerun of bad decisions.
Pittsburgh’s offense never found a clean rhythm, and the early approach raised questions right away. Jaylen Warren was barely part of the plan, logging just six touches in the first half even though he and the run game had been the foundation.
With Tampa Bay’s run defense coming in strong, the Steelers didn’t seriously test it. Mike McCarthy kept leaning on the shotgun and stayed away from getting Warren involved the way he should have.
The defense was the reason Pittsburgh stayed afloat. Jaylen Ramsey, Keannu Benton and Jamel Dean all had big days, while Nick Herbig picked up his first two sacks of the season.
Dean and rookie Daylen Everette each grabbed interceptions, and Ramsey bookended the day with sacks of rookie QB Jalon Daniels. It wasn’t flawless, but it was enough to keep the Steelers hanging around.
Aaron Rodgers also finally appeared to get in sync with D.K. Metcalf and Germie Bernard, who both finished with double-digit receptions.
The offensive line had issues all day, especially Max Iheanachor, but the group delivered when it mattered most. Pittsburgh’s overtime drive wore down a tired Bucs defense and was, in the end, the most controlled stretch the Steelers produced all day.
Then came the sequence that turned a messy win into a head-scratcher.
With the score tied late, Dean came down with an interception and returned it to the three-yard line. Tampa Bay still had two timeouts and the clock was inside two minutes.
The obvious move was to run it three times, force the Buccaneers to spend those final timeouts, and leave them with almost nothing before a short field goal. Instead, McCarthy went with a play-action rollout, and Rodgers threw incomplete to Darnell Washington.
After a run and a Tampa Bay timeout, Rodgers then took a shot with a fade to Metcalf that fell incomplete as well. Chris Boswell still drilled the field goal, but there was enough time left for Tampa Bay to answer and tie the game.
That kind of ending naturally put the spotlight on Art Rooney II’s decision to hire McCarthy in the first place. Rooney wanted a veteran coach, and that part is understandable.
But a coach with that much experience still managed to botch the clock in a spot where the answer looked straightforward. Rodgers had to know better too.
There was no need to force a throw to Washington and stop the clock, or to dial up a fade to Metcalf that was as easy to see coming as daylight - especially when the throw was poor.
In the end, Pittsburgh flew home with the kind of grin teams wear after stealing one they had no business winning. It was ugly, and nobody around the Steelers is pretending otherwise.
But it was a win. And in the NFL, that’s often enough to change the mood from disaster to relief in a heartbeat.
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