Steelers' offense goes from bad to worse in an ugly loss to Patriots

Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Sep 20, 2026

Published in Football

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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — This is certainly not what anyone expected from Mike McCarthy’s offense.

If the Pittsburgh Steelers were “herky-jerky” in the season opener against the Atlanta Falcons — those were McCarthy’s words — then they were just plain ol’ choppy-dropsy in Sunday’s 20-3 loss to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium.

One week after the Steelers managed just one offensive touchdown in their opener, their only points at a place that has not always been kind to them came on a Chris Boswell field goal.

Of course, there were the customary two drops from wide receiver DK Metcalf, including one on a critical third-and-3 play that looked like a replay of last week.

And Aaron Rodgers fumbled twice on sacks that turned into a bizarre plays, including a 19-yard touchdown return by linebacker Elijah Ponder. The other resulted in a loss of — get this — 36 yards, knocking the Steelers out of field-goal range.

But the offense wasn’t alone.

The defense gave up a 32-yard touchdown run to running back TreVeyon Henderson on the second possession, one of five plays of at least 29 yards for the Patriots. The longest was a 63-yard pass from Drake Maye that set up a field goal.

Even when Rodgers completed six of seven passes for 70 yards to get to the Patriots’ 4-yard line, that late-game drive ended with another gaffe — a drop by receiver Germie Bernard that was intercepted by defensive tackle Christian Barmore.

There weren’t many encouraging signs in the first half, not when the offense managed just a 56-yard Chris Boswell field goal with no time remaining.

The lone early bright spot was Bernard, who had four catches for 35 yards — all on one drive that reached the Patriots’ 22. But on a play that typified the day, Rodgers was sacked from his blind side and fumbled. And by the time Troy Fautanu recovered the bouncing ball, the play lost 36 yards.

Bernard got extensive playing time because wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. was inactive. That Rodgers targeted him five times in the opening 30 minutes shows that he has trust in the second-round pick from Alabama.

But finding any type of positive in that performance is just grasping at straws. And the Steelers have two games against AFC North teams in the next 11 days to find an offense, beginning Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals.

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