Trade a young corner one day, get beaten by the Browns the next. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, that’s not some shocking detour - it’s the routine now.
And that’s the uncomfortable part. This doesn’t feel like a one-off mess.
It feels like the way they operate. The Steelers haven’t won in Cleveland since Ben Roethlisberger’s final NFL season in 2021, and they’ve made a pattern out of moving on from top players at key spots without having a real answer ready behind them.
They did it with Diontae Johnson in 2023 and never found a true No. 2 for George Pickens. Then they traded Pickens in 2025, still didn’t land a reliable complement for DK Metcalf, and Pickens went on to become an All-Pro. Now Porter is gone, and the secondary was immediately put on display by Deshaun Watson and the Browns.
This is not the Steelers of the 2000s, when the defense ruled the league for a six-year stretch and the offense had a young star steering the ship. That version of Pittsburgh used to bully Cleveland twice a year. The version on the field now looks more like an aging brother hanging onto old glory at a reunion, still wearing the jacket, still talking like it’s the old days.
That’s the bigger problem. The Steelers haven’t moved on from who they used to be, and under this ownership, there’s no sign they’re eager to.
They still draft well enough to produce valuable players, then move those players when the time comes to pay them, then try to patch the hole by importing someone else. The old “Browns is the Browns” line lands a little differently now.
At this point, the Steelers is the Steelers, and that is the identity.
Aaron Rodgers had his own hand in the loss, and the misses were brutal. In the third quarter, he had DK Metcalf wide open for what should have been the easiest deep touchdown of his career. He never saw it and instead dumped it off to Ben Skowronek.
Then came the last snap that really mattered. Rodgers had Metcalf open again, and a completion there would have put the Steelers at the 35-yard line for a 52-yard Chris Boswell field-goal try that could have forced overtime. Instead, Rodgers tried to force the ball to Roman Wilson, and the interception ended it.
Cleveland’s defensive plan was simple, and it worked. Per Sumer Sports, the Browns lined up with one-high safety on 80 percent of their looks, and that usually came with pressure getting home on Rodgers.
They rushed five on about one-third of the snaps, and Pittsburgh never really found a way to answer. Some of the sacks came because Rodgers held the ball too long, but a lot of that was tied to receivers who couldn’t consistently separate against man coverage.
That’s a problem the Steelers are going to keep running into unless somebody starts winning those matchups.
The tackling was just as ugly. Cole Holcomb and Rayshawn Jenkins both missed on Jaleel McLaughlin on the Browns’ first touchdown of the night, and Payton Wilson and Patrick Queen had rough nights finishing plays as well.
There were even whiffs on sack chances. It was a bad defensive performance across the board, and the first half was especially ugly, with Cleveland scoring 21 straight points.
The coverage was no better. Daylen Everette got beaten multiple times, including a 60-yard strike to Denzel Boston that helped set up a Browns touchdown, plus a slant when he was playing outside leverage with Cleveland backed up deep in its own end. If only they had a high-quality young cornerback on their roster.
There were a few bright spots buried in the mess. T.J. Watt looked like himself again, finishing with a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a sack.
The rest of the roster still needs sorting out. Jalen Ramsey needs to be moved to safety for good, and Brandin Echols should take over the nickel spot.
The current safety rotation isn’t working. On offense, the ball should be going through Jaylen Warren, especially on money downs and in short-yardage situations.
And then there’s Boswell. “I’m officially at Defcon 3 with Chris Boswell. If he makes his first kick of the night, we are having a very different conversation right now.”
In Other News...
Steelers Defense Just Took A Brutal Hit Against The Browns
A Thursday night collision with the Browns brought an early injury scare for Pittsburgh, as defensive tackle Derrick Harmon was carted off with a foot injury and quickly listed as questionable. The timing could not have been worse for a defense already trying to slow Clevelands momentum, with the Browns taking a 21-10 lead into halftime.
Harmons exit leaves the Steelers with a bigger problem than just one missing body in the middle. His presence matters in both the run game and the pass rush, and Pittsburgh now has to adjust on the fly while trying to keep Cleveland from controlling the line of scrimmage. [Read more 🡒]
Aaron Rodgers Just Complicated One Steelers Blame Game
Aaron Rodgers added a layer to the Steelers postgame frustration after the late possession in the loss to Cleveland, pushing back on the idea that the play was simply about Jaylen Warren being the intended answer on second down. Rodgers said five players were running routes on the snap, a reminder that what looks obvious from the outside can be a lot messier once protection, timing and route distribution come into play.
For a Pittsburgh offense still trying to sort through what went wrong in a tight, late-game sequence, that matters. The ball ending up with Warren does not automatically tell the full story of the design, and Rodgers explanation points to the kind of breakdown that can involve more than one player and more than one decision. In a game that already invited blame, the more interesting question may be how much of that play was about execution, and how much was about the pressure closing in around it. [Read more 🡒]
Steelers Fans Already Have A Rodgers-McCarthy Sideline Problem
The Steelers got a little reminder in Week 4 that bringing familiar faces together does not always mean smooth sailing. During Thursday nights game against the Browns, Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy were caught in a heated sideline exchange after Rodgers grew frustrated over a delayed play call, and McCarthy fired back with a profane retort.
For Pittsburgh, it was the kind of moment that can linger because of how much history is wrapped into it. Rodgers and McCarthy won a Super Bowl together in Green Bay before reuniting in Pittsburgh, so the chemistry was never going to be a mystery, but neither was the possibility of old competitive habits resurfacing when the pressure ratchets up. Fans who were hoping for a clean reunion got a glimpse of something a lot messier, and it will be worth watching how that dynamic plays out moving forward. [Read more 🡒]