Pittsburgh is waking up to a cold, quiet reality today. If you're looking for the Steelers game today score, the number is 6. Specifically, a 30-6 loss at home to the Houston Texans in the AFC Wild Card round.
It was ugly.
Honestly, it was worse than the score looks. This wasn't just a loss; it felt like the end of an era, or at least the end of a very expensive experiment. For three quarters, we had ourselves a game. A gritty, muddy, classic Pittsburgh defensive struggle. And then the fourth quarter happened. Houston poured on 23 points in the final frame, turning Acrisure Stadium into a ghost town before the clock even hit zero.
What went wrong at Acrisure?
The vibes were actually high at kickoff. The Steelers came in as the No. 4 seed after a 10-7 regular season that saw them snatch the AFC North title away from the Ravens. We had Aaron Rodgers under center. We had the defense playing lights out. But the offense? It never showed up.
Pittsburgh managed exactly two field goals from Chris Boswell. That’s it. No touchdowns. No explosive plays. Just a lot of dink-and-dunk passes that went nowhere against a Houston defense that looked like the 1985 Bears for a night.
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The turning point was a nightmare sequence in the fourth. Aaron Rodgers, brought in to be the savior, got swallowed up by Will Anderson Jr. on a third-and-11. The ball popped loose, Sheldon Rankins scooped it up, and rumbling 33 yards for a touchdown. That made it 17-6. The air just left the building.
The Aaron Rodgers Factor
Look, we have to talk about Rodgers. He finished 17 of 33 for 146 yards. That’s a 4.4-yard average. In a playoff game. In your own house.
He looked every bit of his age under the lights. He was sacked four times and hit way more than that. The final dagger was a pick-six to Calen Bullock—a 50-yard return that made the score 30-6. When Mike Tomlin finally pulled him for Mason Rudolph with two minutes left, it wasn't for a comeback. It was a mercy killing.
Rodgers was non-committal after the game about his future. "I'm not gonna talk about that," he told reporters. You've heard that before. But after seven straight playoff losses for the franchise, the patience in the Steel City is officially gone.
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The Defensive Stand (And Collapse)
It’s almost unfair to the defense. T.J. Watt and the boys forced three turnovers from C.J. Stroud. They kept the game at 7-6 for what felt like an eternity. But when your offense produces a grand total of 175 yards, your defense is going to break.
The Texans' run game eventually just wore them down. Woody Marks, the Houston rookie, gashed them for 112 yards on the ground. By the time Christian Kirk caught a 4-yard TD to put Houston up 7-3 earlier in the game, you could see the fatigue setting in.
Why this 30-6 loss matters for the future
This loss ties Mike Tomlin with Marvin Lewis for the longest playoff losing streak by an NFL coach (seven games). That’s not a record you want.
- The Quarterback Room: Is Rodgers coming back? Should he?
- The Coaching Staff: Fans are louder than ever about moving on from Tomlin, despite his winning season streak.
- The Identity: Pittsburgh used to be the team that bullied people in January. Now, they're the team getting bullied.
The Texans had never won a road playoff game in their entire history until Monday night. They were 0-6. They broke that curse in our backyard.
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What happens now?
The Steelers are officially in "evaluation mode." The NFL schedule for next season won't be out until May, so we have months of talk-radio drama ahead.
If you're a fan, the move is to keep an eye on the injury report for the guys heading into surgery and watch the retirement announcements. The "Steelers game today score" won't be changing for a long time.
Start looking at the mock drafts. Pittsburgh is likely picking in the 20s again, but they need offensive line help and a clear plan at QB if Rodgers decides to head to the darkness retreat for good. The team has some serious soul-searching to do before they report to Latrobe this summer.
Check the cap space. Omar Khan has his work cut out for him because this roster, as currently built, just isn't a Super Bowl contender.
Wait for the post-season press conferences. Tomlin's "words are cheap" comment after the game suggests he knows the seat is getting warm. Whether the front office agrees is the only thing that matters.