With the Chargers’ top-ranked defense and the Steelers’ second-ranked unit in the same game, perhaps a defensive struggle was inevitable. But with the outcome in the balance, Steelers quarterback Justin Fields felt receiver Calvin Austin III moving into a soft spot in the Chargers’ quarters coverage and let it rip.

Though the Chargers were without an injured Justin Herbert and Joey Bosa for much of the game, the Steelers played the part of a legitimate AFC contender and are now 3-0 to start the season, marking the first time in Fields’s young career that he’s won three consecutive games.

Justin Fields keeps avoiding mistakes. Mike Tomlin keeps avoiding the subject. If Tomlin’s backup quarterback keeps playing like this, the Pittsburgh