Kenny Pickett, Minkah Fitzpatrick injured as Steelers stumble in loss to Jaguars

The weather conditions were sloppy, and so was the Pittsburgh Steelers offense. Not exactly the recipe for another fourth-quarter comeback.

Kenny Pickett was unavailable to dial up some more late-game heroics because of sore ribs, and Mitch Trubisky wasn’t up to the task in his absence. And so it was that the points-starved Steelers never held a lead, much less were in position to grab control of a game they would lose 20-10 to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday afternoon at Acrisure Stadium.

Pickett had directed comebacks in wins against the Baltimore Ravens and Los Angeles Rams, but he could only watch from afar in the second half as the Steelers came up short and dropped to 4-3 on the season.

Pickett left shortly before halftime, and the Steelers also lost All-Pro safety Minkah Fitzpatrick to a hamstring injury on the second defensive series. Neither player returned.

The injuries come with the Steelers set to play again Thursday night against the Tennessee Titans.

“There is no time to sit and sulk,” outside linebacker T.J. Watt said. “That’s part of the beauty of the NFL. We have to move past it, but at the same time we can’t ‘can’ it. We have to look at the film and learn from it.”

The Jaguars, making their first appearance at Acrisure Stadium since beating the Steelers in the 2017 AFC playoffs, won their fifth consecutive game to improve to 6-2. They got field goals on their first two possessions and never looked back, adding to a six-point halftime lead on a 56-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter that gave them a 17-3 lead.

On a rainy, 58-degree day, that turned out to be an insurmountable deficit for the Steelers, who continue to have an aversion to the end zone.

Trubisky threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to George Pickens with 53 seconds left in the third quarter for the Steelers’ only touchdown. But after a Watt sack helped the Steelers get the ball back with about 10 minutes remaining, Trubisky threw an interception on a deep pass down the middle, and the Jaguars tacked on a field goal to ensure the win.

“Maybe if I don’t turn the ball over, it’s closer,” said Trubisky, who threw a second interception with 5 seconds remaining. “We had one good drive. We have to be more consistent than that.”

Related:

• Steelers press on without Kenny Pickett, Minkah Fitzpatrick, whose statuses vague for Thursday
• 'They cost us the game’ — some Steelers fume over questionable calls in loss to Jaguars

It wasn’t until the fifth possession that the Steelers got their initial first down. For the third game in a row, they had exactly three points at intermission. In the past four games, they have totaled nine first-half points.

Tomlin didn’t blame the loss on another slow start by his offense.

“The early portions of the game don’t decide the outcome,” he said. “It usually doesn’t. It didn’t today. You want more fluid starts, but it didn’t determine the outcome.”

Wide receiver Diontae Johnson thought it was determined by the officiating. The Steelers had a 55-yard field goal taken away late in the first half. Rookie corner Joey Porter Jr. was called for a questionable face mask infraction, and safety Keanu Neal was flagged for roughing the passer on a hit to Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s midsection. No flag was thrown on the hit to Pickett that knocked him from the game.

“They cost us the game,” Johnson said. “I don’t care what they say. They cost us the game.”

Guard Isaac Seumalo was called for the offsides infraction that negated Chris Boswell’s field goal, which led to him missing from 61 yards as the half expired. Although he was baffled by the call, Seumalo was diplomatic about the officiating and its impact on the loss.

“That is far, far from the reason this game was not won,” he said. “It was very, very minor to me. There was much more prudent and important stuff offensively that we need to look at.”

The Steelers had 100 yards in the first half and 199 heading into their final possession with two minutes remaining before finishing at 261. Coordinator Matt Canada’s offense has surpassed 300 yards once in seven games, and the “Fire Canada” chant briefly resurfaced in the second quarter.

Still, the Steelers had a chance to grab the lead in the second quarter when Pickett moved the offense 93 yards. On third-and-goal from the 5, he threw behind a sliding Johnson in the end zone.

“He’s doing everything he can, but those little moments, those plays are game-changers,” said Johnson, who had eight catches for 85 yards. “We have to find ways to get things going and turn things around faster, move the ball faster.”

The Jaguars didn’t have such problems, driving into Steelers territory on nine occasions. Three takeaways helped the Steelers’ cause, but Porter Jr had a communication lapse that resulted in Lawrence’s 56-yard touchdown toss to running back Travis Etienne.

“Just bad eyes,” Porter said. “You can’t let those minor mistakes happen, especially in the NFL.”

A week after Pickett was flawless in the fourth quarter while directing two touchdown drives that helped the Steelers beat the Rams, Trubisky wasn’t nearly as proficient. He completed 10 of 17 passes for 78 yards and two interceptions in the fourth.

“I have to be smarter,” Trubisky said. “I’m out there trying to win the game. I’m not just trying to run the ball or check it down every time. It was a forced throw on my part, but I wanted to come in and try to make plays for this offense.”

Depending on Pickett’s health, Trubisky may get the chance in four days when the Titans visit Acrisure Stadium.

“Sometimes it’s a positive ting because we get to flush this game quickly and get the taste out of our mouth and get back to the game on Thursday,” Trubisky said. “We’ve got to flush it. Everybody’s got to prepare and get ready to go.”