AARON RODGERS | PHOTO BY ALYSA RUBIN/PITTSBURGH STEELERS

It turned out to be a Disaster in Cincinnati, one in which the offense, the defense, the coaching  on both sides of the ball and ultimately Mike Tomlin emerged culpable in the wake of a golden opportunity lost.

Even Aaron Rodgers.

But Rodgers’ contributing transgression to Bengals 33, Steelers 31 was imperfection.

As for the rest, their performance against the Bengals suggests they may be on the way to wasting quarterback play that isn’t perfect but easily qualifies as the next best thing.

And that would be a terrible thing to waste.

The run defense was horrific. The pass defense was non-existent. A Rodgers check-out of a flea-flicker that might have seemed like a good idea at the time it was called but was eventually deemed destined for failure prior to the ball being snapped was missed by Jaylen Warren, which helped torpedo a potential scoring drive. And Rodgers’ ball placement failed him on a couple of occasions throughout his 23-for-34, 249-yard, four-touchdowns night, most notably on a deep ball that was intended for DK Metcalf that wound up being intercepted.

Yet at the end of a frenetic and ultimately frustrating night at Paycor Stadium, there was Rodgers finding Pat Freiermuth for a 68-yard, catch-and-run touchdown that re-established a lead for the Steelers with 2:21 left in regulation.

It was the second time the two hooked up in such a fashion.

The first occurred late in the third quarter on a play Rodgers had more or less called during halftime.

“On that one — I’d actually told him at halftime — I said, ‘If we come back and I call this play, be ready,’ because I saw something on one of the pictures on the sideline in the first half,” Rodgers explained. “So, at halftime I pulled him aside. I didn’t think it would be third-and-18 from the 19, but they clouded pretty hard to DK and Pat did a nice job down the middle.

“It was really the same play on the second [Freiermuth] touchdown.”

Can any more be asked of a quarterback?

Rodgers continues to deliver the best play the Steelers have gotten at the game’s most critical position since before Ben Roethlisberger’s season-ending injury two games into the 2019 campaign.

But there’s not much he can do about running backs not being on the same page as everyone else (Warren), offensive linemen false-starting on a fourth-and-1 “Tush Push” in the red zone (Mason McCormick and Troy Fautanu) and the ball being ripped from a receiver’s grasp with more points waiting to be scored (Metcalf).

And there’s nothing Rodgers can do about a defense that talks about being able to stuff the run and cover anyone but too often isn’t able to do either.

What the Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase did to the Steelers is understandable. The same could be said for Tee Higgins.

But making the Bengals’ Chase Brown look like Jim Brown is unforgivable (and contributed mightily to Chase and Higgins proving unstoppable).

So were the self-inflicted wounds on offense, the avoidable mistakes you just can’t make when every opportunity is critical to surviving a shootout.

Will they ever rise above this nonsense?

The hardest part, as the Steelers have been made well aware since Roethlisberger’s departure, is finding the guy capable of delivering the way Rodgers has.

The easier part should be doing enough of the rest on both sides of the ball to complement the quarterback.

Is that so hard to grasp?

Apparently.

Rodgers maintained perspective in the wake of the Disaster in Cincinnati regarding what the Steelers had lost, and what they may yet accomplish.

“We want to win every game,” he maintained. “There needs to be an expectation of winning, but this is a short week, division opponent, anything can happen. Obviously, Joe [Flacco] played really well for them and [Ja’Marr] Chase and Tee got going for them; this the NFL.

“We had a chance to really open up some space but we’re 4-2, still first in the division. Got a couple home games coming up back-to-back, another Sunday night opportunity against my former team [Green Bay]. I’m not going to ride the roller coaster and I know Mike [Tomlin] isn’t, and hopefully guys follow suit.”

It was the type of leadership the Steelers needed at that particular moment, the type Rodgers has been consistently delivering from the podium.

It’s up to the rest to follow.

Mike Prisuta is the sports anchor/reporter for Randy Baumann and the DVE Morning Show. He’s also the host of the Steelers Radio Network Pregame Show and the color analyst for Robert Morris University men’s hockey broadcasts.