The Pittsburgh Steelers were ready and came to play Sunday afternoon, beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20-18 this past Sunday. Pittsburgh started slow this season racking up a record of 1-4 before heading into this past week’s upset win over the Buccaneers. The Steelers were projected to lose by nine and a half points coming into this matchup. The Steelers defense struggled the previous week to the Buffalo Bills giving up 38 points in the loss. Pittsburgh was a major underdog in this game leading up to Sunday.

Steelers rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett led the Steelers to a touchdown on their opening drive, throwing his first NFL touchdown pass to Steelers running back Najee Harris to give Pittsburgh a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. The Steelers defense held their ground in the first quarter only allowing three points. The second quarter was a low scoring one where there were only field goals by both teams. The half time score left Pittsburgh in the lead 10-9.

The third quarter was going well for Pittsburgh when suddenly Steelers guard Kevin Dotson missed a crucial block on Buccaneers linebacker Devin White causing Pickett to go into concussion protocol. Formerly benched quarterback Mitch Trubisky was called upon to come in for the injured rookie quarterback.

Trubisky started the season off with Pittsburgh with a sluggish start and was often called out by the media and Steelers receiver Diontae Johnson for not throwing good passes, leading to his eventual benching against the Jets. This lit a fire under Trubisky and he absolutely came to play when he was called upon to come in for Pittsburgh again. Trubisky went 9 for 12 on completions and threw for one touchdown with no interceptions. Compared to previous games Trubisky looked like a whole new quarterback when he came into this game. He took a lot of shots down the field and scrambled when he needed to avoid getting sacked. Steelers receiver Chase Claypool was his favorite target as he hit him with a nine yard spiral pass that put Pittsburgh in the end zone.

Towards the end of the game Trubisky would hit Claypool again with a clutch 26-yard pass on third-and-11. The Steelers picked up another first down with running back Jaylen Warren and were able to kneel down and clinch the upset. This was a huge win for Pittsburgh especially since they were on a three game losing streak and this upset puts them in the right direction to turn the season around. Trubisky proved the media wrong that wrote him off and he balled out.

The Steelers weren’t expected to win this week’s matchup but they came to play with a fire lit under them and played phenomenally. The defense that gave up 38 points the week prior allowed a measly 20 points this game, holding Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and the Buccaneers to just one touchdown. Claypool wasn’t getting many targets in the weeks prior but capitalized on his opportunity and came up big for Pittsburgh. Claypool converted on two big third down plays with one of them being late in the fourth quarter to help put the game out of reach for Tampa. A key for the Steelers to keep seeing offensive success is to keep feeding the ball to Claypool on those deep one on one routes that he’s best known for.

This stellar upset win is exactly what Pittsburgh needed to turn the season around and they will shock the NFL with more upset wins going forward.