Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin looks at a scoreboard replay of a Cincinnati Bengals interception during the first half of an NFL football game in Cincinnati, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Asked earlier this week about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ struggles on the road in Thursday night games, Mike Tomlin gruffly responded he’d gotten his butt kicked in many different ways during his 19 years on the sideline.

Add one more to the list.

More jarring than the result in a 33-31 loss to Joe Flacco and Cincinnati on Thursday night was the manner in which it happened. The Steelers were diced by a 40-year-old quarterback who’d been on the roster for all of a week.

The team that very openly talked about how it revamped its secondary in the offseason with the explicit intent of stopping Bengals wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins let Chase set a franchise record for receptions and Higgins get deep in the final minute to set up the winning kick.

Yet it wasn’t just the secondary that had its issues. The Bengals came in with one of the worst rushing attacks in the league. It was hard to tell the way Chase Brown and Samaje Perine — and on one memorable keeper, Flacco himself — averaged 6.2 yards per carry.

“It seemed like everything (went wrong),” outside linebacker T.J. Watt said. “Absolutely an unacceptable performance from us on the defensive side of the ball.”

Yet also familiar. The Steelers are winless in their last seven Thursday night road games against AFC North opponents. The throughline in most of those setbacks has been a defense unable to bring the same physicality it so regularly displays on pretty much any other day of the week.

Flacco threw it 47 times and Pittsburgh never really came close to getting its hands on the ball. Too often their hands were too busy trying to drag down Chase or Higgins after another chunk play, or drawing flags for pass interference for being too handsy.

“We have to play better,” said defensive back Jalen Ramsey, acquired from Miami in June to give Pittsburgh’s secondary the thump it has lacked in recent years. “You have receivers that are superstars in the league, you know that they get away with (getting calls). It is what it is. Next play. Got to play the game. Got to execute.”

Given an opportunity to create some breathing room in the AFC North and offer tangible proof that this Pittsburgh team might be different than the recent ones that have squeaked into the playoffs only to be quickly ushered out, the Steelers instead offered more of the same.

“We won’t be defined by this performance,” Tomlin said.

He better hope not.

What’s working

Serving as the Pittsburgh campus of Tight End U. Three different tight ends — Pat Freiermuth, Jonnu Smith and Darnell Washington — caught all four of Aaron Rodgers’ touchdown passes in Cincinnati a few days after Connor Heyward hauled in one of his own. Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith has done an excellent job of creating different personnel packages designed to let all four have opportunities to contribute and Rodgers’ trust in all four is obvious.

What needs help

The defense’s Jekyll/Hyde performances are becoming problematic. Perhaps the most jarring aspect of the loss was the inability to generate a consistent pass rush against a graybeard quarterback who rarely ventures outside the pocket.

Stock up

Wide receiver Roman Wilson, still basically an unknown nearing the midpoint of his second season, finally showed glimpses of what the Steelers saw in him when they selected him in the third round of the 2024 draft. Wilson caught a pair of passes for 17 yards, including an athletic 13-yard gain to convert a third-down during a third-quarter touchdown drive. It’s not much, but it’s a start.

Stock down

Ramsey’s career is on a Hall of Fame track. The highlight reel should the veteran defensive back reach Canton won’t include any footage from Thursday night, which he spent futilely trying to defend the seemingly undefendable Chase.

Next steps

Rest up and gear up for another game that won’t lack for intrigue when Green Bay visits in a prime-time matchup on Oct. 26 in what will be Rodgers’ first time facing the team he led to a Super Bowl and won four MVPs with during his 18-season stay.