Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers did not mince words.

"That play, for whatever reason, just changed the entire energy, changed the game," he said.

Interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich echoed his veteran quarterback when he said: "Huge shift in momentum."

The play he was referring to came with 1:21 left in the first half of Sunday night's game at Acrisure Stadium against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Jets had built a 15-6 advantage, had the ball, an opportunity to extend the lead and then do even more with the second-half kickoff. Out of the shotgun, Rodgers sent a dart over the deep middle intended for Garrett Wilson. Instead, Beanie Bishop stepped in front of Wilson for an interception.

"That play" turned the game on its head and turned a promising start into a 37-15 loss, the Jets' fourth straight.

The Steelers (5-2) came to life, driving to a TD on Russell Wilson's pass to George Pickens with 32 seconds left in the half. It was the beginning of Pittsburgh's string of 31 unanswered points.

"It was a bad throw," Rodgers said after the game. "I just should have dumped it underneath."

Rodgers and the Green & White (2-5) offense put together a pair of strong drives to build that 15-6 lead. Trailing by 3-0, Rodgers completed all 6 of his passes on a 9-play, 82-yard drive over 5:41 to 5 different receivers. RB Breece Hall, stymied in the run game (12 carries/38 yards), did have the Jets' opening TD (a 13-yard run), but also caught 4 passes for 93 yards early, including a 57-yard catch-and-run to the Steelers' 1-yard line to set up Rodgers' scoring toss to TE Tyler Conklin. A penalty on the point after enabled the Jets to try a 2-point conversion, that Rodgers pocketed with a pass to Wilson.

The sense that the Jets were on the verge of controlling the game evaporated after the interception and late Pittsburgh score. Rodgers said he sensed a loss of energy.

"I just felt like the energy, and it starts with me, the energy, for whatever reason, at halftime, was a little flat," he said. "I felt like it was flat before the game, too."

He added: "I've been loving what the messaging that Brick's [interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich] brought to us, and we had three great speakers last night at the team meeting, and the energy seemed really good. But for whatever reason today, it just kind of seemed a little flat in warm ups. I mean, it's "Sunday Night Football" on NBC, only show on TV. I live for these games, and I just don't quite understand why the energy was a little bit flat. For whatever reason. Sometimes there's moments where you feel like the energy is great. The energy is kind of medium. The energy is a little mild or flat, and kind of felt it. Anytime that happens, you try and directly infuse some energy and conversation to get things going. And then I felt like, once we started the game, we had good energy. And then, you know, [expletive] pick I threw, kind of after that, I just felt like the energy just kind of dropped off."

Though he completed 24-of-39 for 276 yards, his first -- and his second interception, also by Bishop -- lead to Pittsburgh TDs. Down by 16-15 after a Chris Boswell field goal midway through the third quarter, Rodgers attempted to drop a pass to Wilson along the visiting sideline, but it bounced off his chest, popped up and was nabbed by Bishop, who returned it to the Jets' 1-yard line.

"I said I was going to 'come back to you, he's a dynamic player,' " Rodgers said of Wilson (5 receptions/61 yards). "We need to target him. Obviously nobody feels sicker than him about that play."

Russell Wilson carried in and the Steelers took a 23-15 lead and never looked back.

"It's been a rough stretch since we played so good on Thursday night [in the win over New England on Sept. 19]," Rodgers said. "We've lost each of those four in different ways, but we gotta figure it out. Obviously, we added two big-time players to the locker room. One's here [Davante Adams], one's coming Monday [Haason Reddick, who ended his holdout on Sunday]. So you know, everything's still right in front of us. We got to somehow keep the belief in the locker room and start a run. Can't win 10 in a row unless you win the first one. So we got to be very critical of ourselves, each of us, individually, tomorrow, and then come in with the right attitude all week and go to New England and get a win."

Seven different players caught passes from Rodgers in the game, with Hall getting 6 for 103 yards, including the 57-yarder -- the Jets' longest play from scrimmage so far this season. Reunited with Adams, acquired in a trade with Las Vegas last week, Rodgers found him for 3 completions for 30 yards, all in the first half.

"I threw a wide one to him on the first one [the Jets' first offensive play], he kind of stumbled on the deep cross," Rodgers said. "Other than that, I feel like we were on the same page there."