The Pittsburgh Steelers experienced another fourth quarter debacle.  This time against the San Diego Chargers.

Fortunately for them, Pittsburgh had built up a large enough lead to withstand the late barrage.  They won the Sunday night showdown, 38-28.

The Steelers established control of the game early as Ben Roethlisberger threw touchdown passes on each of the Steelers’ first two drives.  They were also paced by Rashard Mendenhall, who had a career night with 165 rushing yards on 29 carries.  Last year’s Super Bowl champs had put 28 points on the board before the Chargers put any points on the board.

Mendenhall averaged over 5 yards a carry against a struggling San Diego defense.

The Steelers entered the last quarter with a 28-7 advantage.  The Chargers started their attempted comeback on special teams – Pittsburgh’s Stefan Logan had the ball ripped from him on a punt return.  San Diego’s Jacob Hester ran the ball into the endzone for the first of the Chargers’ three fourth quarter TDs.  The other two came on quick, traditional drives led by quarterback Philip Rivers.

Pittsburgh countered with 10 points of their own, making just enough plays and gaining the necessary first downs to keep the ball moving and eat up the clock.  In the end, it was too little, too late for San Diego.

Although the Steelers’ offense looked very poised and efficient, their current issue lies within their defense.  Without their defensive QB – playmaking safety Troy Polamalu – the Steelers have given up yardage and big passing plays that have allowed teams back into ball games.

Sitting at 2-2 in the AFC North, they’ve taken losses in situations that they normally wouldn’t have.  The instincts of Polamalu would have done much to prevent comebacks from other teams who were pressing to make plays.  The original timetable for Polamalu’s return was 3-6 weeks, so the Steelers won’t have much longer without him.

But this has allowed Pittsburgh to see how they would perform without the USC product.

A pretty safe assumption would be that the Steelers won’t ever want to see him injured again.

T Lamont is the owner, administrator and author of all content for Ball or Nuthin\'. Feel free to contact T Lamont with a question or comment at ballornuthin@gmail.com.  All created Ball or Nuthin' content is the sole property of T Lamont. Read more from this author