PITTSBURGH STEELERS QUARTERBACK AARON RODGERS DURING A REGULAR SEASON GAME BETWEEN THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS AND THE CINCINNATI BENGALS, THURSDAY, OCT. 16, 2025 IN CINCINNATI, OH. | PHOTO BY KARL ROSER/PITTSBURGH STEELERS

It wasn’t all Aaron Rodgers’ fault in Los Angeles. He was, however uncharacteristically bad enough for long stretches against the Chargers — long enough that, for the first time, it seemed appropriate to at least ponder whether the 21-year veteran was finally beginning to approach his NFL expiration date.

In response, Mike Tomlin emphatically maintained that isn’t the case. But it’s Rodgers who’ll ultimately have to answer such questions against the Bengals.

Cincinnati is up next for the Steelers, and the blueprint for beating the Bengals couldn’t be more obvious: Out-score them.

The Steelers tried to do that but failed on Oct. 16 in Cincinnati, when scoring 31 points wasn’t enough.

That one was on the offense, too, by the way.

The inability to cover Ja’Marr Chase had something to do with it, as well. But Chase and fellow Cincinnati pass-catching machine Tee Higgins lighting up a defense isn’t an event that occurs exclusively against the Steelers, whether the Joe doing the throwing is named Flacco or Burrow. Cincinnati can score, and does.

But the Bengals stop no one.

Redundant confirmation of the Bengals’ defensive ineptitude can be found by taking a deep analytical dive into the nuances of Cincinnati’s 32nd-ranked run defense, 30th-ranked pass defense and 32nd-ranked total defense. (The only reason the Bengals aren’t ranked lower in two of those three categories is that there aren’t 33 teams.)

But it would be much easier to just take former NFL defensive back and current CBS color analyst Adam Archuleta’s word for it: “They have a bad combination, their inability to stop the run and also their inability to rush the passer. If you can’t do either, it’s gonna be really tough to play good defense.”

It really is that simple.

Archuleta made that observation during the Bengals’ 47-42 loss to the Bears on Nov. 2 in Cincinnati, a game in which the Bears had a 14-point lead and possession with 2:42 remaining in regulation — then somehow found themselves trailing by one with 54 seconds to play. Chicago still managed to score another touchdown (when a field goal would have been enough to win the game) in the closing seconds.

A quintessential Bengals game if ever there was one.

When you play the Bengals, “whatever it takes” translates into “as many as it takes.” The Steelers didn’t score as many as they ultimately needed to in October — because they false-started on a fourth-and-1 and settled for a field goal, because they threw an interception at the Cincinnati 24-yard line and because wide receiver DK Metcalf had a completed pass ripped from his grasp at the Cincinnati 30.

They also left a bunch of points on the field in last Sunday night’s 25-10 loss. Seven weren’t scored when Rodgers and Metcalf couldn’t connect on a deep ball against 1-on-1 coverage from a safety; Metcalf accepted responsibility because he “kinda broke my route a little flatter than I should have been.” At least three points, and potentially seven, were ceded when Rodgers fired high to wide-open tight end Jonnu Smith. Three for certain got away on a rare miss by kicker Chris Boswell. More never made it to the scoreboard when Rodgers badly overthrew running back Kenneth Gainwell, who was open in the flat on third-and-6 from the Chargers’ 10. And seven got away again on the same fourth-quarter possession, when Rodgers’ ball placement betrayed him on a fourth-and-6 shot to Metcalf in the end zone (1-on-1 against a second-year cornerback).

Nobody hits them all. But the Steelers didn’t hit any of those.

They have to be better (it really is that simple, again). And Rodgers knows it better than anyone.

“I got to play better than this for us to win,” he acknowledged. In an effort to do so, Rodgers is trusting the “process” this week.

“You don’t have to make any major changes or freak out,” he maintained. “It’s the nature of the league. There’s gonna be a stinker every now and then.”

There will, at that. But when your first “stinker” of the season happens in close proximity to turning 42, as Rodgers will on Dec. 2, it isn’t as easily written off as a one-off (at least not by those doing the writing).

If it happens a second time … well, as Tomlin likes to say, two is a trend. And if they trend in that direction against the Bengals, it’ll be appropriate to ponder when or if such a trend will ever end.