Aaron Rodgers, Mike Tomlin speak harsh truths about Steelers' 'SNF' loss to Chargers

The offense of the Pittsburgh Steelers left much to be desired as the club fell to 5-4 on the season via an ugly 25-10 loss at the Los Angeles Chargers (7-3) on Sunday night. 

Following the defeat, Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers offered a blunt assessment of his performance at SoFi Stadium in front of a prime-time audience. 

Aaron Rodgers accepts blame for Steelers' loss at Chargers

"I missed, obviously, some throws, for sure," Rodgers said during his postgame comments, per Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. "And then we weren’t getting guys open and couldn’t put it all together. Times guys were open, I missed the throws that I usually make. Our defense played really well tonight. Offensively, we were pretty bad. So, we’ve got to find a way to get open on third down, I’ve got to find a way to hit ‘em, because that was just some bad ball."

In total, Rodgers completed 16-of-31 pass attempts for 161 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions versus the Chargers. While one of those picks occurred on a pass that should've resulted in a Pittsburgh completion, Rodgers also took a bad safety in the contest's first quarter. 

Meanwhile, he tossed his one touchdown of the evening with 2:57 remaining in regulation when the game's outcome had basically already been decided. 

"I expect to play great every single week, and this was not my best performance," Rodgers added. "I’ve got to play better than this for us to win. Whatever it takes. If it’s better checks, if it’s better throws, I’ve got to play better. I will, but we’ve got to bounce back. We’ve got to play better on offense, for sure, but this is part of the season. There’s ebbs and flows, there’s ups and downs. And we can’t ride the wave. It felt like our energy — and it starts with me — wasn’t as great on offense. I felt like were were just kind of struggling a little bit and couldn’t get a play and get going. …We had so many three-and-outs and we hurt ourselves with a couple of penalties, and I didn’t play very good at all."

Mike Tomlin knows Steelers weren't good enough against Chargers

The Steelers were trailing by 19 points with under seven minutes to play in the fourth quarter when the Chargers recovered a muffed punt deep in Pittsburgh territory. That moment largely summed up how the visitors played in a game that Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin seemingly can't forget about soon enough. 

"I'm not lacking confidence," Tomlin said after Sunday's loss, per ESPN's Brooke Pryor. "I don't need a pat on the back. We stunk it up tonight. We'll be back."

The first-place Steelers next host the Cincinnati Bengals (3-6) on Nov. 16. Cincinnati defeated Pittsburgh in Week 7 on Oct. 16.