Ahead of the 2025 NFL season, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said that his team’s defense could do “historic things.” Through six games, nothing has been further from the truth. The Steelers’ defense has had some flashes, but by and large, it’s been a group that’s been more bad than good. On ESPN’s Get Up! Wednesday, former NFL offensive lineman and head coach Jeff Saturday said the defense has been the most disappointing unit in the NFL.
“Not maybe, they definitely are. For the money they’ve put in this defense and the expectations for what this defense was gonna be, they let the Bengals, who hadn’t ran the ball on anybody all season, rush for 100 yards in 10 carries. That is insane,” Saturday said. “What does that do? It opens up for [Ja’Marr] Chase, for [Tee] Higgins, for a guy like [Joe] Flacco.”
Saturday’s response came after host Mike Greenberg said the Steelers’ defense “might be” the most disappointing unit across the league. It’s a fair assessment from Saturday and Greenberg given the expectations ahead of the season. Pittsburgh’s defense always has high expectations. It’s been a unit that’s usually among the best in football, and recently, it’s carried the team into the postseason despite subpar offenses.
This year, the offense has had to make up for the defense. Thirty-four points in Week 1 after Pittsburgh’s defense had no answer for the Jets, and 31 points in a near-comeback against the Bengals, the game Saturday referenced where Pittsburgh got torched on the ground and through the air.
It hasn’t all been bad defensively, and it hasn’t all been good offensively. The Steelers needed every one of their five turnovers to beat the Patriots in Week 3, for example. But it’s rare that this team has truly played complementary football, and that’s a concern. In Week 4 and Week 6, both sides of the football played well, and the Steelers looked like a team that could make a run. But those have been the only times we’ve really seen it from them this year, and it has to get better.
There isn’t just one thing wrong with the defense right now. Cam Heyward outlined a host of issues that caused them to struggle against Cincinnati. But the good thing is that a lot of Pittsburgh’s most significant problems are fixable. Communication and gap integrity need to be better, in particular. Still, it’s concerning how poorly the defense has played up to this point, and it’s certainly been a disappointing unit.
