The AFC North division leading Pittsburgh Steelers will play their 15th game of the 2025 season when they travel to Detroit to take on the Lions. The Lions currently find themselves outside of the playoff picture. They are third in the NFC North and are in eighth place overall in the NFC, one and a half games behind Green Bay.
Below are five key things I believe the Steelers will need to do to come away with their ninth win of the year.
Cap It At 24 – The Detroit offense is potent. They came into the week as the top scoring offense in the league. This season, they have scored 30.6 points per game. They were overtaken in total points by Seattle and the Los Angeles Rams, who both played on Thursday night.
The Pittsburgh defense has been on a roller coaster this year. Looking good some weeks and awful on others. On the season, they have allowed just over 23 points per game. They have been a little better recently, lowering that average to 21.2 over the last five games.
At home, the Lions offense has been even better overall. They’ve scored no less than 24 and put up as many as 52. Their scoring average at home is 33.7 points.
Looking at the games Detroit lost, in five of those six games, they have been held to 24 points or less. That number seems to be the threshold the Steelers need to keep them under for a realistic shot at a win.
Keeping it (under) 100 – The Lions have one of the best running back tandems in the league. The pairing of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery have Detroit as the No. 6 rushing team in the NFL. Those two have 1,735 of the team’s 1,836 total rushing yards. Add in 21 rushing touchdowns between the two, and you can see what kind of damage they can do. And that’s before you add in the receiving skills of Gibbs.
Rushing defense sounds like an evil phrase these days in Pittsburgh. The Steelers have endured major struggles at times, allowing nine teams to rush for more than 100, and two of those to go over 200.
The Steelers will get a boost with Derrick Harmon returning to the defense. With him in the lineup, the defense has held opposing teams to an average of 91 yards per game.
Again, looking for patterns in the Lions losses, containing the Lions running game has been a consistent plus in beating them. In eight wins, the pair averaged 162.6 yards rushing per game and never had less than 103 yards rushing. In six losses, they averaged 72.3 and never had more than 100 yards rushing combined.
Keep Gibbs and Montgomery under 100 yards rushing total, and it will help the cause.
Finish in the Red Zone – This matchup has an interesting fact, in that both teams are ranked in the top three in the NFL in red zone percentage. That number calculates the number of times a team scores a touchdown after reaching the red zone.
Detroit is the No. 2 team scoring touchdowns on 37 of 55 chances. Jared Goff ranks second in the NFL with 21 of his 29 touchdown passes coming inside the 20. Gibbs has nine of 16 total touchdowns, and Montgomery has six of his nine in the same area.
After being 29th in the NFL in 2024, the Steelers have made a complete turnaround. They have touchdowns (28) on two-thirds of their 42 trips near the end zone. Aaron Rodgers has 14 of his touchdowns passes down low and Mason Rudolph has chipped in with two. The running backs have kept with the two-thirds pattern. Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell each have six total touchdowns with four from inside the twenty.
Defensively, Pittsburgh is ranked 11th and the Lions are 23rd.
The team that can force field goal tries, force turnovers or get a turnover on downs in the red zone could make the difference in a close game.
A Successful Ground Campaign – The Steelers history as a running team is a strong one. This year, not so much. Their running game, like their run defense, has been sporadic.
As they sit right now, the Steelers are 28th in the league in rushing yards and have topped 100 yards in a game just six times. They are 4-2 in those games averaging a robust 135 yards per game. When held under the century mark, they are 4-4 while averaging just 60.6 yards per game.
The Lions defense is 21st in the league having allowed 1,494 yards on the ground. In their last four losses, which have come in the last seven games, they have allowed 143.5 yards rushing per game.
Rushing the ball allows Pittsburgh to sustain drives and keep the Lions potent offense off the field. A healthy dose of Warren and Gainwell running successfully can help to take down the Motor City Kitties.
Bigger Splashes – This is an area in which we have seen improvement from the Steelers, and it could be coming at the right time. Let’s look at some of the numbers.
The Lions defense has allowed the eight most passing yards in the NFL. They have allowed 28 passing touchdowns. They have allowed the second most passing touchdowns to wide receivers with 20. Detroit has allowed the most 20-plus yard passes in the league with a total of 54. That is nearly four per game.
Pittsburgh has 34 passes of 20-plus yards and has shown a propensity to push the ball more in recent weeks.
The Lions offense is fourth in passing yards, third in 20-plus yards receptions (53) and average eight yards per attempt good for fourth in the league. They will push the ball downfield.
The Steelers defense has allowed the fourth most passing yards, 41 passes of 20 or more yards (15th) and just four plays over 40 yards (tied for fifth best).
The Steelers must put an umbrella over the defense. Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams have combined for 2,076 yards and 18 touchdowns.
Pittsburgh needs to continue finding some splash plays while eliminating big plays for Detroit.