Not warming up fast enough: On a cold and snowy night in Cleveland, in the words of Coach Mike Tomlin, the Steelers didn't warm up to the action fast enough.
And unfortunately, despite a late surge, it cost them in the end, losing to the Browns, 24-19, in the closing minute.
The Browns held an 18-6 lead in the fourth quarter, when the Steelers answered with a three-yard touchdown run by Jaylen Warren and a 23-yard touchdown reception by Calvin Austin III to take a 19-18 lead with 6:20 to play.
It was a lead that didn't last long, as the Browns scored with one minute on the clock, and a last-minute drive by the Steelers would fall short.
"First, I'd like to start by complimenting the Cleveland Browns," said Coach Mike Tomlin. "I thought they brought it. It was a hard-fought game. They made more plays over the course of 60 minutes than we did.
"Obviously, we have to own our portions of it. Particularly early on I thought it took us too long to warm up to the action. We were penalized, some pre-snap penalties. Just weren't really sharp. We got going. Our guys fought, but it wasn't enough to secure victory.
"It's painful, but it's life in this business. We'll take a look at the tape and learn from it. We're in the midst of some thick AFC North action, so no rest for the weary. We've got a big one coming up.
"But again, compliment the Browns on bringing it, particularly early on. It took us too long to warm up to the action."
Quarterback Russell Wilson was sacked four times in the game, three of them occurring in the first half. The first sack ended the Steelers opening drive, forcing Chris Boswell to attempt a 58-yard field goal that went wide right. Another was a strip sack the Browns recovered.
"That's what I'm talking about when I say it took us too long to warm up to the action," said Tomlin. "They brought it, and they brought it instantly early on. I thought we settled down and got competitive, but it produced some negativity, particularly in the first half."
Time to respond: There was disappointment following the Steelers loss to the Cleveland Browns on Thursday Night Football, a game the Steelers felt like they could have won.
"We should have won that game," said quarterback Russell Wilson. "We felt like we battled, we fought our butts off, and it was a tough environment. Obviously, we wanted to win this one. Unfortunately, we came up short."
There is one thing Wilson knows though. They won't let the loss linger or impact them moving forward. The Steelers are 8-3 and in first place in the AFC North. Next week they hit the road again for an AFC North matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Wilson, the offensive team captain, has no worries that the team will put this in the rearview mirror and attack the upcoming week looking to get back on track.
"I think the biggest thing is in any moment we have a lot of football left," said Wilson. "We have a lot of opportunities to respond in the highest way, highest level. I think everything that we want is still in front of us.
"We have to be able to refresh after this weekend. After these Thursday night games, just played a tough game on Sunday and you come back and have another game Thursday night. It's a lot of games in a short amount of days. I think we have to let our bodies recover, reset mentally, and then come back and push for the stretch.
"That's the great part of it, because we have the guys to do it. The great thing about this team is we have the guys to do it. We have the mentality to do it. We have the edge to do it. We have the response to do it. I think we showed that in the fourth quarter, just the energy that we brought when it mattered most.
"In this game of football, every game is not going to go exactly your way, but as long as we give ourselves the best chance to do that and fight for that every day, and I think we did that (tonight)."
Wilson has played against AFC North teams throughout his career, but the last two weeks have been his first experience competing as part of the AFC North. And now, the AFC North will be featured in HBO Max's Hard Knocks, taking it up a notch.
The key, though, is to approach every game with the same tenacity and not change things.
"Listen, it's ball," said Wilson. "I've lived a lot of ball in my lifetime. It's not necessarily the division, it's the moment. It's the team, our team that we have right here. I think the most important thing is for us to focus on each other.
"The great thing about us is that we're not going to change, you're not going to change our thought process and how we work. We work as hard as anybody could possibly work in the National Football League. I think we do a great job of that.
"We have great leadership. We've have great guys. We have great competitors, and we don't blink in the midst of moments. I think this is going to be a great story to tell. We're looking forward to that."
Missed opportunities: The weekly goal for the Steelers defense is to shut down the run, and they did just that against the Browns on Thursday night. The Browns had just 85 yards rushing, with Nick Chubb held to just 59 yards on 20 carries.
But Chubb made those carries count, with two short touchdown runs, while quarterback Jameis Winston added a two-yard touchdown run.
The defense shut the Browns down on their first two drives of the game, before Chubb's first touchdown run in the second quarter.
"Defensively I thought we got some three and outs early on," said defensive tackle Cameron Heyward. "Traded back and forth. It became a game of field position, and I think a couple times we just didn't capitalize on it, or we didn't get off the field in time.
"I think you're at 10-3 at half, get off the field with a fumble, get them the ball. It's just hit or miss on a bunch of plays."
The Steelers took a five-game win streak into the Thursday night game, but by falling short weren't able to extend their lead in the AFC North.
"Missed opportunities," said Heyward. "We have to eat it. They made more plays at the end. Some of the stuff we can have some head-scratching about what was displayed, but just take it and move on.
"I know everybody's pretty (ticked) off about a loss, but we have to learn from it and be better next time."
The key for the Steelers now is to learn from the loss, put it behind them, and get ready for next Sunday with another AFC North matchup in the Cincinnati Bengals, who will be coming off their bye week.
"There's adversity every game. We just didn't win through the adversity," said Heyward. "I think you can learn from wins. You can learn from losses. Adversity was displayed on both sides. Adversity was displayed almost every week. We just didn't make the correct plays when we needed to.
"It doesn't change the way we prepare. If you're not learning from your wins and you're only learning from your losses, shame on you.
"I think you can be humbled in every game. You try to learn something in every game."
Bringing you the action: For fans who don't want to miss any of the action, NFL+ is here, which means you can now watch the Steelers live and on the go! Watch live local and primetime regular season games on mobile, plus NFL RedZone, NFL Network, live audio and more - all in one place.
