PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Steelers spent a week letting their worst loss in 27 years fester. Catharsis came during a frenetic stretch in the first quarter Sunday night against the seemingly unprepared Kansas City Chiefs.
Six offensive snaps. Three Ben Roethlisberger touchdowns passes. Two to Antonio Brown. One very important reminder of just how good Pittsburgh's offense can look when all of its dynamic parts are moving in sync.
Seven days after a 31-point meltdown in Philadelphia, the Steelers overwhelmed the Chiefs 43-14 behind five touchdowns passes from Roethlisberger and 178 yards of total offense from running back Le'Veon Bell.
"I told the guys before the game, we're driving a car and we don't have a rearview mirror right now," Roethlisberger said. "We're not looking back. We're looking forward. We're moving on. We did a pretty good job moving on."
Sure looked like it.
Roethlisberger hit Brown - wearing cleats featuring the profile of golf great and western Pennsylvania native Arnold Palmer - for a pair of scores. Roethlisberger also found Markus Wheaton, Darrius Heyward-Bey and Jesse James for touchdowns on his way to finishing 22 of 27 for 300 yards.
"When you've got a Hall of Fame quarterback, it looks good like that," center Maurkice Pouncey said the Steelers improved to 3-1.
New England Patriots
It helps when the franchise running back is allowed to join in too. Bell returned from a torn MCL that cut short his 2015 season and a three-game suspension for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy and looked every bit as dangerous as he did when he was an All-Pro in 2014, which also happened to be the last time Bell, Brown and Roethlisberger started and finished a game together.
"I didn't really feel like I was rusty," Bell said. "I was more anxious if anything."
There was no need, not on a night Pittsburgh's struggling defense repaid a pre-game pep talk by Hall of Fame linebacker Kevin Greene by throttling the Chiefs (2-2). The Steelers forced a pair of first-quarter turnovers that Roethlisberger promptly turned into touchdowns during a franchise-record 22-point deluge. Pittsburgh, which came in with just one sack on the season - dead last in the league - but getting to Kansas City's Alex Smith four times and never allowing the Chiefs to get into a rhythm.
"We wanted to get'em one dimensional and take'em to the deep end of the pool," Steelers linebacker Vince Williams said.
Smith was 30 of 50 for 287 yards and two inconsequential fourth-quarter touchdowns after things were well out of hand. Spencer Ware ran for 82 yards but also fumbled in the first quarter that kick-started Pittsburgh's record-setting run.