PITTSBURGH _ New week, new soap opera for the Steelers. First, there was the National Anthem hideout in Chicago. Next there was the Antonio Brown temper tantrum in Baltimore.
Now comes the What's Wrong with Ben Roethlisberger mystery as the quarterback and his offense sunk to new lows five games into a season once filled with high expectations.
This one may bode more costly for them.
There were logical reasons to explain perhaps each of Roethlisberger's career-high five interceptions, two returned for touchdowns, in a shockingly inept offensive performance that resulted in an upset 30-9 loss to Jacksonville at restless Heinz Field Sunday.
There were tipped passes, pressure, Roethlisberger's arm hit as he threw. Taken as a whole, however, it was every bit as ugly a game as he's had in his 14-year career.
He knew it and his coach knew it.
"He's not playing well," Mike Tomlin said. "I'll let him speak for him."
Roethlisberger, as he often does in these cases, took all the blame. But for a 35-year-old who contemplated retirement before this season, he said something rare even for him when he was asked if he was doing anything differently.
"I don't think so but maybe I am, maybe I don't have it anymore," Roethlisberger said.
He completed the first pass he attempted on the Steelers' first play from scrimmage, a 49-yarder thrown deep to Antonio Brown to the Jacksonville 23 over cornerback Jalen Ramsey.
It was mostly downhill from there. Ramsey played like Rod Woodson in his prime the rest of the way, and Roethlisberger and his offense were never able to exploit the one-deep safety alignment Jacksonville presented them. That usually signals bombs away for the Steelers, but not on this afternoon.
The Jaguars seemed intent to stop the run, not the deep pass, and the Steelers accommodated them.
They could not get Le'Veon Bell loose much. He ran 15 times for just 47 yards (3.1 average) and while he caught 10 passes, he averaged just 4.6 yards on those.
For whatever reason, Roethlisberger threw a lot of passes sideways, short and on check-downs. Martavis Bryant, a big-play man throughout his career who carried an 18.3-yard average coming in to this one, caught five passes for 21 yards, a 4.2 average.
Bryant said the quick, short throws to him were to "just get the ball in my hands and let me go out and try to make plays but Jacksonville played a great game today."
Roethlisberger threw 55 times, completing 33 _ 16 of them for six yards or fewer _ and 312 yards.
That first big completion to Brown that seemed to signal that all was right for the Steelers offense yielded just three points after they reached a first down at the 13. Two more times they cracked the red zone only to add to Chris Boswell's stats _ he kicked three short field goals for their only points.
"We can't just rely on field goals," guard David DeCastro said. "We have to score touchdowns. These red zones are killing us, they really are. It's so much easier when you score points.
"There's nothing worse than being down 14 points and having to pass the ball 50 times."
A holding call against DeCastro negated the only time the Steelers found the end zone on a 38-yard pass from Roethlisberger to Brown with 3:29 left in the game. Two plays later, Roethlisberger threw toward Brown again and was intercepted for the final time.
Brown had a big game of sorts. He caught 10 passes for 157 yards, but he also was targeted 19 times which means nearly half of the passes thrown his way were either incomplete _ or intercepted, as were two, one returned for a touchdown.
The Steelers defense really deserved better. Rookie Leonard Fournette did run for 181 yards and two touchdowns, but 90 of those yards came with 1:47 to go when he scooted for a long touchdown as the defense tried to make something happen.
It was the offense that allowed two touchdowns on interception returns while another interception gave the Jaguars the ball 47 yards from the end zone, which they reached. Ryan Shazier saved another possible scoring drive with an interception at the Steelers 39.
That defense, though, was taking no comfort in its performance.
"We have to make plays," Cam Heyward said. "We have to rip at the ball. We have to get off the field."
They practically stayed off the field the entire third quarter, thanks to the ineptness of their offense, which had the ball for 13:28 of the 15 minutes. That offense started the second half with a long drive that sputtered out at the 2 and ended in a 20-yard Boswell field goal to stake them to a 9-7 lead.
T.J. Watt had his third sack of the season to quickly end Jacksonville's next series and it looked as if the Steelers were about to take control.
And then things turned in a big way.
Roethlisberger's pass to Brown was tipped by defensive tackle Abry Jones at the line and diverted right into the hands of linebacker Telvin Smith, who returned the interception 28 yards for a touchdown.
On the very next series, Roethlisberger's pass on third-and-17 for Brown was broken up and tipped on a nice play by Ramsey and safety Barry Church grabbed the ball and ran 51 yards for a touchdown.
Those two quick defensive touchdowns gave Jacksonville a 20-9 lead and it was ballgame from there.
"It was a rough day," said Roethlisberger, who repeated several times that "I'm not playing well enough."
He got arguments on that from no one, including his head coach.
