CINCINNATI -- Ja'Marr Chase exploded for 161 yards on 16 receptions, and fellow receiver Tee Higgins added 96 yards and a score in quarterback Joe Flacco's second start in 10 days, but the Pittsburgh Steelers aren't blaming their secondary for the 33-31 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday night.
Instead, numerous Steelers defensive players said the root of the problem was their inability to stop the league's worst rushing attack, as the Bengals put up a season-high 142 yards, nearly more than double their previous best.
"It's not the secondary; that's a cop-out," defensive tackle Cameron Heyward said. "I think the front line, we got to control the line of scrimmage a lot better. I'm pissed off. We didn't take care of our job ... they were last in rushing, and the way we gave it up today that takes the cake.
"We got to stop the f---ing run. That's as simple as that."
With the loss, the Steelers' lead on the Bengals atop the AFC North shrank to 1½ games as Pittsburgh fell to 0-7 in Thursday night road games against division opponents under Mike Tomlin.
The Steelers bottled up the Bengals' ground game on their first two drives and built a 10-0 lead, but halfback Chase Brown ran for 27 yards on the first play of the team's third drive. He slipped through a hole on the left side created by the interior linemen and raced up the sideline until Jalen Ramsey stopped him just across midfield for the Bengals' longest run of the season to that point.
Then, Brown one-upped himself on the first play of the Bengals' next drive after Aaron Rodgers' first interception of the game. Again, Brown found space created by guard Dalton Risner, who started at left guard for the second week in a row, and center Ted Karras. This time, Brown cut to the right and gained 37 yards.
"We just weren't doing what we've been doing," Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen said. "We weren't being physical, we weren't maintaining our gap. Everybody just got a job, and they just got to stick to that job. Starting with me, I got to be better. I had two chances to make a play, didn't make the plays, and it turned into a big run, so I just got to get better. It's that simple."
By halftime, Brown had 74 rushing yards, eclipsing each of his full-game totals from the first six weeks.
"The whole line was phenomenal tonight, the way they were picking up the plugs and creating space," Brown said. "That's all I need -- to get to the line of scrimmage, and I can do the rest. I was able to pop a couple of big ones today. It feels pretty good. It's nice to carry that momentum."
The Bengals had 97 first-half rushing yards and averaged 10.8 yards per carry.
"The first half, we allowed them to run the ball too much," Tomlin said. "I think they had about 100 yards rushing at the half, and then, we turned the ball over a couple times. So, that just set a negative trajectory, and we're fighting uphill the rest of the way."
The Steelers' lackluster run defense was especially alarming after improvements in that area in the past two games. After giving up at least 100 rushing yards in each of their first three games, the Steelers held the Minnesota Vikings and the Cleveland Browns to fewer than 100 rushing yards and 3.5 and 3.8 yards per carry, respectively.
The Steelers' inability to create turnovers compounded the defensive issues Thursday night. For the second week in a row, they didn't force one.
"We've prided ourselves on getting that splash, and I don't think we had one last week, don't have one this week," edge rusher T.J. Watt said. "If you're not stopping the run and getting off the field and not creating turnovers, you're in a whole world of hurt."
Asked if the defensive performance was especially frustrating because it was a step back after two weeks of growth, Heyward said he was most frustrated about his unit's inability to get stops as the offense put up 31 points behind Rodgers' four touchdown passes.
"I don't look at it game by game," Heyward said. "I look at it as our offense gave us a ton of points, and as a defense, that is more than enough. As a defense, we got to own it. As a D-line, that run game is a big blemish on our group right now.
"Your offense gives you 30 points, you should feel good that you can win a game, but as a defense, we got to pride ourselves on stopping the run, and we did not do that. That's unacceptable."