Steelers Missing Offense,1 Offensive Touchdown in Last 12 Quarters of Football

McCarthy and Rodgers Have a Problem: The Steelers Offense Has Gone Missing

There are slumps, bad afternoons and games when nothing seems to fit.

“The offense needs to be better,” Mike McCarthy said after the Steelers 20 to 3 loss to New England. “Mike McCarthy needs to be better.”

Then there is whatever has happened to the Pittsburgh Steelers offense over its last 12 quarters of meaningful football.

Start with the final game of the Mike Tomlin era.

Houston walked into Pittsburgh in January and dismantled the Steelers 30-6 in the AFC Wild Card round. No offensive touchdowns.

Eight months later, McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers were supposed to represent the reboot.

Through two games, it looks more like Pittsburgh is still searching for the power button.

The Steelers escaped Week 1 with a 20-13 victory over Atlanta, but the offense produced only one touchdown. Sunday afternoon in New England was considerably uglier: Zero touchdowns.

Add it together and Pittsburgh’s offense has produced one touchdown over its last 12 quarters of regular-season/playoff football.

McCarthy was hired with offense as part of his calling card.

Rodgers arrived with four MVP awards and decades of accumulated quarterback knowledge.

More importantly, these aren’t two strangers trying to learn each other’s language. McCarthy coached Rodgers for more than a decade in Green Bay.

The reunion was supposed to eliminate some of the usual growing pains.

Instead, the Steelers look like an offense still introducing itself.

Sunday provided the ugliest evidence yet.

Rodgers completed 23 of 39 passes for 187 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. That’s 4.8 yards per attempt.

Pittsburgh averaged only 3.5 yards per offensive play despite possessing the football for nearly 33 minutes.

Think about that combination.

The Steelers ran 67 plays and held the football longer than New England and generated three points.

There was no sustained vertical threat. No consistent running game forcing New England out of its preferred looks. Too many possessions felt like isolated plays rather than pieces of something McCarthy was building toward.

And eventually the afternoon produced the defining snapshot.

Early in the fourth quarter, Christian Barmore got to Rodgers for an 11-yard sack. Rodgers fumbled. New England recovered in the end zone.

Touchdown Patriots.

The Steelers offense didn’t merely fail to score a touchdown. It scored one for the other team.

That’s the troubling part about the McCarthy-Rodgers marriage after two weeks. The résumé says this should look more sophisticated than it does.

Rodgers should understand what McCarthy wants before McCarthy finishes asking for it. McCarthy should know what makes Rodgers comfortable better than almost anyone coaching in the NFL.

Yet right now there is little rhythm to any of it.

Pittsburgh is 1-1, so nobody needs to pull the fire alarm after two Sundays. But the offense doesn’t get to hide behind the record, either.

One offensive touchdown in 12 quarters stretches beyond McCarthy and Rodgers, but they’re the two people Pittsburgh brought together specifically to make sure stretches like this disappeared.

Instead, through two weeks, the most surprising thing about their reunion is how unfamiliar they look together.