The Pittsburgh Steelers needed their offense to finally show up Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. Mike McCarthy apparently had a very specific number in mind for how much showing up would require.
Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati 30-27 at Acrisure Stadium, improving to 2-1 and handing the Bengals their first loss of the season. Aaron Rodgers threw for 292 yards and three touchdowns, while Jaylen Warren piled up 176 yards from scrimmage.
Afterward, McCarthy admitted he had written down a scoring target before the game. Then he immediately wished he hadn’t said it publicly.
Mike McCarthy Makes ‘Stupid’ Admission After Steelers Win
McCarthy believed Pittsburgh would have to score 31 points to beat Cincinnati.
He ended up being off by only one.
ESPN’s Brooke Pryor shared McCarthy’s postgame explanation after Pittsburgh escaped with the three-point win.
“I wrote down 31 in my notes going in as far as the target. And that’s the last time I’m going to say something like that because I was stupid for that to come out of my mouth. But I just knew that I felt that we needed to score points.”
The Steelers didn’t quite reach 31, but they came close enough.
Pittsburgh scored touchdowns on its first two possessions, with Rodgers finding Roman Wilson for a 38-yard score and Ben Skowronek for another 23-yard touchdown. Chris Boswell added a field goal in the second quarter before Rodgers hit DK Metcalf for a 6-yard touchdown in the third.
Boswell then tied the game at 27 with a 36-yard field goal and put Pittsburgh ahead for good from 33 yards with 2:18 remaining.
The offense finished with 411 total yards after entering Week 3 having produced just 16 offensive points through its first two games.
Aaron Rodgers, Jaylen Warren Deliver What McCarthy Wanted
McCarthy’s scoring prediction wasn’t his only pregame emphasis that showed up Sunday.
“The two other factors we’ve really stressed this week is winning the battle in the trenches, and in the space game. We have to tackle very well in space. They’re gonna get the ball in space, so our tackling in space is important. And then on the flip side of it, we need to break tackles. Yards after contact, yards after catch — all that. So I think those will be the factors for the win.”
Warren turned that emphasis into one of the best games of his career.
He rushed 17 times for 127 yards and added three catches for 49 yards. His 176 yards from scrimmage gave Pittsburgh the explosive element that had been missing during the opening two weeks.
Rodgers also looked much more like the quarterback Pittsburgh expected when it paired him with McCarthy. He completed 19 of 34 passes for 292 yards, three touchdowns and one interception while spreading the ball to nine receivers.
The Steelers still needed their defense to make one final play.
With Cincinnati driving for a potential tying or winning score, Derrick Harmon sacked Joe Burrow and forced a fumble with 53 seconds remaining. Sebastian Joseph-Day recovered it, allowing Pittsburgh to kneel out the clock.
McCarthy’s 31-point prediction might have been something he regretted revealing.
The part he got right was that Pittsburgh would need almost every point it could find.
Steelers’ Mike McCarthy Makes ‘Stupid’ Admission After Bengals Win