Skip to main content
Commander Country

Washington Steals Win, Ruins Pittsburgh's Undefeated Run

The Pittsburgh Steelers came into Monday as an imperfectly perfect team. Then came the Washington Football Team, passing a test in a winning way by a 23-17 score
Mike Fisher|
Washington Steals Win, Ruins Pittsburgh's Undefeated Run
Washington Steals Win, Ruins Pittsburgh's Undefeated Run

The Pittsburgh Steelers entered Monday night seemingly willing to admit that they were an imperfectly perfect team. But now they're no longer unbeaten, the Washington Football Team recording a stunning 23-17 win.

Washington viewed this as a test that seemed passable ... and WFT gets great grades here.

''Every week is a test,'' WFT coach Ron Rivera said before a win that jumps his club to 5-7 and dumps the Steelers to 11-1. ''It's a test for our football team, and we'll find out.''

What we found out:

*Rivera thought he made some mistakes. But his players ... made plays.

"In spite of some of the decisions I made today,'' Rivera said in a self-effacing way, "they played their asses off." 

*Washington's defensive front, which manufactured an early goal-line stand and then forced a game-sealing takeaway - provided hope here - and for the future.

The early stand ...

The late pick, Jon Bostic corralling an interception tipped up by Montez Sweat ...

*The early toe injury to rookie running back Antonio Gibson threatened to take away a dimension from the QB Alex Smith-led (31 of 46 for 296 passing yards) offense. But good work from tight end Logan Thomas (nine catches and 98 yards with a TD) and others, including Peyton Barber, who scored a fourth-and-short TD, and J.D. McKissic, who was an electric threat will the ball in his hands (10 catches for 70 yards), picked up the slack.

And while Terry McLaurin never quite got untracked, Cam Sims' late deep-ball catch of 31 yards set up what turned out to be a game-winning kick from Dustin Hopkins.

*The Steelers are as beatable as we predicted ... and maybe WFT isn't the only bunch that saw this upset coming.

''The record this year, just kind of feels weird, this whole COVID year,'' Steelers guard David DeCastro said before a game that due to the pandemic got moved from its original Sunday date. ''I know we're (undefeated), but I think things in this day and age, you don't really look too far ahead or behind. You're just kind of stuck in the moment.''

Pittsburgh will survive this, as its "next moment'' is the NFL Playoffs. QB Ben Roethlisberger, who wasn't dazzling, had an early TD pass to Diontae Johnson that combined with James Washington's catch-and-run for a 50-yard score, created a 14-point hole for WFT.

Maybe the Steelers will be better going forward.

And Washington's "next moment''? Maybe WFT, winners of three straight, will be the same.

This outing offered WFT a chance to match the division-leading New York Giants' total of five wins, and it did so. It also offered an opportunity to ruin Pittsburgh's perfect season, to do so a (semi-)national stage (the game was on FOX but wasn't fully nationally-televised), and to, big-picture, stay alive in the NFC East.

"It's awesome,'' Rivera said of what the win accomplishes. "It's big.''

In the end, Pittsburgh was proven to be imperfect. And Washington proved it is worthy of a test.

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Mike Fisher
MIKE FISHER

Mike Fisher - as a newspaper beat writer and columnist and on radio and TV, where he is an Emmy winner - has covered the NFL since 1983, is the author of two best-selling books on the NFL.

Home/News