Aaron Rodgers insisted all along that his first time playing against the Green Bay Packers wasn't about revenge for the 21-year veteran. Sure enough, the Pittsburgh Steelers' quarterback was more frustrated about his team's performance on Sunday night than losing to the team he played the first 18 seasons of his career with.

The Steelers blew a 16-7 halftime lead and lost to the Packers 35-25 at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Steelers (4-3) are trending downward following a 4-1 start to the season as their defense again got tormented after losing to the Cincinnati Bengals 33-31 in their previous game.

Thus, Rodgers was more reflective about what the AFC North-leading Steelers need to do to get back on track than facing his old team, former coach Matt LaFleur, and one-time backup quarterback Jordan Love.

"Well, just an honest assessment," Rodgers said. "I think setting feelings aside and being OK with criticism, any position, any player, and being honest about what we need to do to improve. And then we can't beat ourselves. I think in three losses, there've been times we've had opportunities, and we've hurt ourselves with turnovers or just negative plays. So, we've got to cut those out. We've got to get on the same page on offense and defense and keep the faith."

There wasn't a lot of reason to have faith on Sunday night as the Packers had 454 yards of total offense, including 360 yards passing by Love, who threw for three touchdowns. Tight end Tucker Kraft also had a big game with seven receptions for 143 yards and two TDs.

Rodgers couldn't do anything to help the defense. However, just two of the Steelers' six scoring drives ended with touchdowns as Chris Boswell kicked four field goals.

"We can't settle for field goals against good people, and that was kind of an issue throughout," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said.

Rodgers had a solid performance. He completed 24 of 36 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns. However, it wasn't enough to overcome the defense, which gave up at least 31 points for the fourth time in seven games this season.

And the loss didn't leave Rodgers in a nostalgic state of mind about facing the Packers, though he did praise Love.

"He played great," Rodgers said. "He played fantastic. He's had a really nice season. He's been really efficient with the football."

On the other hand, Rodgers wasn't so complimentary about his own play.

"Disappointed that I didn't play better, that we didn't play better, especially in the second half," Rodgers said.