Steelers in Need of a ‘Plan B’ for the Bengals
Head coach Mike McCarthy needs a solution to what’s already been tried — and failed — with the offensive line.
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy is introduced at a press conference, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026 in Pittsburgh, PA. (Karl Roser / Pittsburgh Steelers)
Credit Mike McCarthy for acknowledging the problem.
We’re about to find out if the Steelers’ new head coach is as adept at problem-solving as he is accountable for what’s gone awry so far this season and why. You don’t have to be Vince Lombardi to appreciate the Steelers’ biggest issue through their first two games.
It isn’t Joey Porter Jr.’s annoying, on-again, off-again aching back.
It isn’t DK Metcalf’s alarming inability to consistently catch passes.
And it absolutely, positively isn’t Aaron Rodgers’ age.
It’s the offensive line: Run-blocking, pass-blocking, communicating, you name it.
In retrospect, the up-front issues are understandable given who has been the starting five since OTAs was collectively prepared, or, more accurately wasn’t prepared, in training camp and preseason games, McCarthy admitted
“I think in hindsight you go back, and you look how many days did we line up with the same offensive line?” he offered. “We haven’t had a lot of reps where all five of them had their hand in the dirt at the same time. We just got to do a better job of getting ready.”
You don’t hear many such admissions from men in McCarthy’s position.
There’s nothing so much like a God on earth as a general on a battlefield, unless it’s a veteran and accomplished NFL head coach, most of whom are willing to concede they didn’t actually invent football, but at the same time are convinced they deserve credit for perfecting it.
The initial response was to continue tinkering with combinations along the offensive line this week in practice. Capability, apparently, is as big a deal as continuity, if not bigger.
PHOTO BY FEIXU CHEN/ NEXT GENERATION NEWSROOM
McCarthy stopped short of chastising himself for not running the ball enough.
He maintained after beating the Atlanta Falcons for the opener, despite launching approximately twice as many passes as rushing attempts, that the Steelers “won’t live in that world.”
After it worked out that way again against the Patriots on Sunday, it appears the Steelers have not only moved into that world, but are also putting an addition on the residence.
None of this bodes well as the Steelers brace for the Bengals, who for the first time in recent memory will be bringing a defense with them to Acrisure Stadium on Sept. 27.
The solution, the only answer at present, is to buckle up.
They need to run the ball against Cincinnati, whether it works or not. They need to line up with as many tight ends and fullbacks as it takes, blast away against the Bengals’ array of 300- or 350-pound defensive linemen and try to move the pile.
They need to throw, dink and dunk, despite McCarthy’s admitted aversion to such an approach, as a hedge against the pressure Cincinnati’s tons-of-fun defensive front is capable of generating.
The Steelers’ defense ought to be capable of keeping a lid on Joe Burrow and his dynamic duo at wide receiver (Ja’Mar Chase and Tee Higgins). The Bengals, assuming they approach the Steelers the way Cincy did the Houston Texans’ fearsome pass rush last Sunday, may also contribute to keeping the score down by taking a conservative, protect-Burrow-first-and-foremost approach.
They don’t want to see him getting smashed and sandwiched any more than the Steelers want to expose Rodgers to what they did on Sunday in New England.
Burrow, arguably as good a QB as there is at present, threw for 207 yards against Houston. The Bengals’ high-octane offense gained all of 267 total net yards, and still Cincinnati won by 14. The Bengals know they can win with defense for a change.
So another traditional, recognizable and yes, winnable AFC North Division rock fight may be in the offing. That’s an environment in which the pre-McCarthy Steelers used to thrive at times.
If McCarthy has a better idea regarding how to best circle the wagons against Cincinnati, now would be the time to put such a theory into practice.
The natives are already restless. And even a hometown coach such as McCarthy is only afforded so many mea culpas.
