Sunday Night Football in Week 10 of the NFL season should be a fascinating clash between two AFC playoff contenders who have gotten to this point in different ways.
The 6-3 Los Angeles Chargers started the season red-hot thanks to an MVP-level tear from Justin Herbert at quarterback. However, the offense has cooled off and the offensive line has dealt with injury after injury, forcing the Chargers into a 3-3 record in their last six games.
The Steelers seemed like they were starting to slide a bit after a 4-1 start to the season, buoyed mostly by the offense in a turn of events from recent years. The defense struggled mightily, but turned things around in a big way in a Week 9 upset of the AFC-leading Indianapolis Colts. That win steadied the ship for Mike Tomlin and company, who currently sit at 5-3.
Now, the two teams will square off in prime time with playoff positioning, and big stakes in each of their respective division races, on the line. When the Chargers have the ball, the Steelers could have a major advantage. Here’s why.
Steelers should be able to get after Justin Herbert
Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
The biggest change in this Chargers offense over the course of the season, and the thing that has hurt them the most, is the deterioration in the pass protection. Los Angeles lost star left tackle Rashawn Slater to a season-ending knee injury during the preseason, but didn’t seem to miss a beat without him.
A big reason for that is the presence of Joe Alt, who moved over from right tackle to left tackle after Slater’s injury. Alt is arguably the best tackle in football, and he proved it over the first few games of the season. However, when Alt went down with an ankle sprain during a loss to the New York Giants, things fell apart quickly.
Alt recently returned before going down again, with an injury to the same ankle, in last Sunday’s loss to the Tennessee Titans that will end his season. Now, the Chargers are back to square one on the offensive line and even added New Orleans Saints castoff Trevor Penning at the trade deadline.
That is going to be a big problem against a Steelers defense that has a lot of talent on the defensive line and got after Daniel Jones to the tune of 18 pressures and five sacks in Week 9. Cameron Heyward and TJ Watt are still very effective, and it looks like Alex Highsmith is trending toward playing in this game after returning to practice on Thursday.
That is bad news for Herbert, who has been under siege for much of the season and is now without his cornerstone left tackle. The star quarterback has been pressured 165 times this season, which is an astonishing 30 more than Cam Ward of the Tennessee Titans in second place.
Herbert and the Chargers have not had a bye yet, so those numbers could be a bit inflated by a larger sample. However, only Jacoby Brissett and Justin Fields have faced pressure on a higher percentage of their dropbacks than Herbert has, so it’s clear that he has been managing that issue all season.
This Steelers pass rush is well-equipped to make things very difficult for Herbert, especially if the Chargers get into obvious passing situations. Running back Omarion Hampton is still out, so Los Angeles doesn’t have that element of explosiveness in its running game. If that forces Herbert into third-and-long situations, Watt and company will be able to pin their ears back and get after him.
Can the Chargers protect the ball?
Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
While the Steelers have struggled at times to stop opposing offenses on a down-to-down basis this season, they have thrived on forcing turnovers and generating big plays. Pittsburgh has 16 takeaways on the season, the second-best mark in football behind only the Chicago Bears.
On the other side, Justin Herbert was basically interception-proof last season, but that has not even the case so far in 2025. While the Chargers signal-caller has still played some elite football this year, he has coughed up eight interceptions this year including a brutal pick-six against the Titans in Week 9.
Some of those turnovers, specially his two interceptions against the Giants, were forced by the pressure coming from the pass rush. Herbert plays like a quarterback robot at times, but he has shown some cracks in the face of the rush from time to time this season.
If the offensive line does break down, and the matchup does not favor it, Herbert could be prone to giving the Steelers some chances to make a few big plays over the course of the game. In a game that could come down to very fine margins and have major playoff implications, just one or two big plays by this defense could be the difference.
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