PITTSBURGH STEELERS QUARTERBACK AARON RODGERS (8) 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

Mike Tomlin was admittedly disappointed in defeat but also insistent that his Steelers “won’t be defined” by what should forever be remembered as the Disaster in Cincinnati.

Fair enough, it was one game of 17.

But the next three are destined to be as defining as a three-game stretch of schedule can get.

Never mind that the Steelers’ three weeks of reckoning begins with Aaron Rodgers against the Packers and the team’s QB successor, Jordan Love. It’s made-for-TV-magic. Don’t think for a minute the NFL doesn’t love a good soap opera, or that it’s a coincidence this one is playing out in Sunday Night Prime Time.

Rodgers has done his best this week to squash that narrative.

He was nostalgic in talking about his Green Bay days, appreciative of his current situation with the Steelers and spoke of Love with admiration rather than resentment.

As he has been since Day One on the South Side, Rodgers is playing the role of consummate professional.

But from the Steelers’ perspective this was never going to be the storyline that really mattered, whether Rodgers ended up singing “Kumbaya” or “How Do You Like Me Now?”

Not after their defense got sliced and diced again by the Bengals.

Remember “historic?”

Reminder, “match up and play man-to-man against anyone?”

The only historic thing that happened in Cincinnati was Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase catching a Bengals-record 16 passes in what for the Steelers was a 33-31 collapse.

Worse yet, the Steelers’ run defense made Chase Brown look like Jim Brown (the run defense apparently hasn’t been fixed yet, either).

Now comes Josh Jacobs, who since coming to Green Bay last season has produced 23 rushing touchdowns (a number Tomlin accurately characterized as “staggering”).

After that, the Indianapolis Colts and running back Jonathan Taylor are scheduled to invade Acrisure Stadium. The Costs are No. 2 in the NFL in yards per game (380.3) and No. 1 in the NFL in points per game (33.1) and Taylor leads the league in rushing yards with 697 and in rushing touchdowns with 10 (two more than Jacobs’ “staggering” eight this season).

The Packers and Colts didn’t need to see the tape of the Steelers being in the wrong gap and not tackling in Cincinnati to warm up to the idea of coming here with the intention of running the ball down the Steelers’ throats.

After that it’s a trip to the West Coast.

The Chargers are a good but not great team, but did I mention they play in LA?

That’s a tough trip.

And this is a daunting stretch in what has become a difficult time, one that, if the Steelers aren’t careful, can turn 4-2 into 4-5.

And that possibility supersedes any and all Rodgers drama.

He’ll do his part, as he has been all along.

But that won’t matter if the defense doesn’t define what it intends to be this season.

The defense has flashed through the first six games, and even saved three of them with last-possession stops against the Jets, Patriots and Vikings.

But the body of work hasn’t been what was anticipated initially or what will be necessary moving forward.

It hasn’t been good enough.

Safety Juan Thornhill is among the Steelers’ defenders who remains as committed as he is confident, despite all the evidence to the contrary on display against the Bengals.

“Why would I put my head down?” Thornhill wondered aloud in a quiet corner of the locker room on Wednesday as a media horde surrounded Rodgers. “We’ve shown we can play some good football once we’re all on the same page, everybody doing their job instead of trying to do too much. When we do our job and we don’t try to do too much we play great football, so why would I put my head down on these guys and turn my back on these guys?

“I know what we’re capable of.”

That doesn’t make the need for some actual in-game confirmation, starting Sunday night, any less critical.

Tomlin’s right, the Cincinnati game need not be defining.

But the next three will be, one way or the other.

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.