Week 7 · 2025–26 season
Steelers
L 31-33 at Bengals · Oct 16, 2025
Misery Index · Despair
Steelers fans are watching A.Rodgers' best month in a decade get incinerated by Austin's bottom-five defense.
The emotional rollercoaster
Fan misery across the game window. Up is worse.
What happened
A.Rodgers to P.Freiermuth for 68 yards with 2:31 left should have been the dagger — instead it was a four-minute appetizer for J.Flacco, who carved up the secondary to T.Higgins and J.Chase and set up E.McPherson's chip shot. The defense surrendered a game-winning drive in under two minutes, and the final A.Rodgers heave fell incomplete. The quarterback play this team waited a decade for is being actively wasted on a unit that cannot get off the field.
What fans said
“Defense should be absolutely ASHAMED”
u/pgherg1▲ 659rage
“just absolutely embarrassing the whole game”
u/ZombiePancake45▲ 315rage
“This is the worst part. We are wasting the best QB play we have had in 10 years.”
u/BluejayCool3897▲ 233despair
“Everyone. Staff, players. Nobody did his job.”
u/dovetc▲ 144rage
“Defense is a complete shitshow and always will be in prime time under Tomlin & Austin”
u/nizniy▲ 77rage
“Get Teryl Austin's dumbass off my fucking team”
u/Longjumping-Worry596▲ 71rage
14 more
“ITS FUCKING TOMLIN”
u/KingJarrah06▲ 94rage
“Tomlin needs to go!”
u/austinalexan▲ 61rage
“Screw all of you defending this team because they were “4-1””
u/osuneuro▲ 35rage
“(Fuck Joe Burrow)”
u/FakeMarkMadden▲ 34rage
“ITS INEXCUSABLE FOR THE HIGHEST PAID DEFENCE IN THE LEAGUE”
u/Diflorasone▲ 31rage
“They just got lit up on the ground by a HISTORICALLY bad rushing team and they won’t change a thing I promise you.”
u/Passw0rd-Is-Tac0▲ 77frustration
“Somebody has to get canned for this. C'mon allowing their top playmaker to get 16 catches. That is gross negligence!”
u/TopConstruction7830▲ 35rage
“Austin coordinated bottom 5 defenses for years before they hired him. He is terrible and will never be a DC again but he is a good yes man so Tomlin keeps him around.”
u/soon_forget▲ 28rage
“The thesis of this team was an elite, top-5 defense with average offense and what the team actually is is a slightly above average offense and a garbage defense that’s way closer to bottom 5 than top 5.”
u/ryeasy▲ 103frustration
“I really dont know how anyone can defend Tomlin after his constant inability to make adjustments.”
u/austinalexan▲ 141frustration
“There’s literally nothing better than watching an opening drive TD against a divisional rival on prime time while your wife cheers on right next to you”
u/6enericUsername▲ 23joy
“I mean that was our exact problem when the killer Bs we’re all in their prime it’s the same exact story over again”
u/Fatbottombetty▲ 115frustration
“Fucking embarrassing and frustrating.”
u/Sakarabu_▲ 55frustration
“STOP SCAPEGOATING AUSTIN. Tomlin is the architect.”
u/ASilentPartner▲ 32rage