The Washington Commanders suffered their first loss of the season at Northwest Stadium to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 28-27. Here are five takeaways from the Week 10 defeat.

1. Special teams played an important role.

Coach Dan Quinn said earlier in the week that he was excited about the battle that would occur between the Commanders and Steelers' special teams units. He was right to anticipate the matchup, because it played an important role in the outcome.

We'll start with the Commanders' side of things. Olamide Zaccheaus flirted with disaster on his first punt return by muffing the ball that was nearly recovered by the Steelers. It ended up being a precursor to what occurred next, as Zaccheaus muffed a second punt return, and this time, it was recovered by the Steelers and led to Pittsburgh going up 14-7.

The Steelers also made a gaffe on special teams with an aggressive fake punt at their own 15-yard line. Miles Killebrew' pass fell through James Pierre's open hands, and the Commanders capitalized on the short field by scoring three plays later.

It's rare for Washington to make a mistake, as they came into Sunday's game with the fewest turnovers in the league, especially on special teams. And for the most part, the fumble was the only error the unit made. However, like the rest of the afternoon, it was a reminder that there is a small margin for error against good teams.

2. Tress Way was busy.

Speaking of special teams, Tress Way was busy against the Steelers. He punted the ball six times -- a season-high -- for 330 yards with a game-long of 74 yards. Way was exceptional as always, but the reason he was needed so often stemmed from the offense's inconsistency.

There were a few reasons why Washington put up a season-low 242 yards. Quarterback Jayden Daniels, who was sacked three times, was just a tick off at times when trying to connect with his receivers. His third-down pass to Zaccheaus was just out of the receivers' grasp, while Zach Ertz couldn't haul in a pass on second-and-13, which put the unit in a double-digit third-down scenario.

There was also the lack of production Washington's offense experience following their third-quarter touchdown. Once again, the offense itself was the culprit. Daniels' pass to Luke McCaffrey was just out the rookie's reach; back-to-back 11-yard losses moved the offense back from the Steelers' 40 to its own 38; and a holding call eliminated a six-yard run by Chris Rodriguez. That last one seems insignificant, but it turned a third-and-2 into a second-and-8, which eventually led to Way needing to punt from his own end zone.

Washington's offense seemed a little bit off all afternoon. It was never much, but the small stumble prevented the Commanders from sustaining momentum and possibly a larger lead.

3. The defense's small mistakes added up.

The most frustrating thing for the defense was that it was one of the unit's best days in several respects. Najee Harris, who had rushed for at least 100 yards in the past three games, was limited to 58 yards on 21 carries; Wilson was held to 108 passing yards until the fourth quarter; and the unit forced two turnovers.

The defense still made a few mistakes of varying degrees, and like everything else for the Commanders against the Steelers, they piled up.

The secondary had two penalties on the Steelers' second drive -- a pass interference and a roughing the passer call -- that helped Wilson and his offense get into scoring position. Later in the third quarter, a defensive holding call on Dante Fowler gave the Steelers a fresh set of downs and led to a touchdown two plays later.

The two biggest mistakes came at the most inopportune times. The first was on third-and-9, when Benjamin St-Juste allowed Mike Williams' lone target on the day to result in a 32-yard touchdown that gave the Steelers a 28-27 lead. The next came on fourth down of the game's final drive. Johnny Newton jumped offsides, and since the Commanders had already used all their timeouts, the Steelers had free reign to run down the clock.

4. Struggles on the ground.

Washington knew it was going to be tough to establish the run against the Steelers, who have only given up 100 rushing yards in three games. Still, with it being such an important part of the offense, they needed to try. There were some positive moments, but they were far outweighed by the negatives as Washington was limited to 60 yards on 22 carries.

Most of that was a credit to Austin Ekeler, who had 44 yards on the day. Ekeler scored two of the team's touchdowns and converted two third downs with runs of four and five yards. The rest of the Commanders' rushers, however, were held to limited gains or negative yardage. Jeremy McNichols, Daniels and Rodriguez combined for just 16 yards.

No matter who ran the ball, all of Washington's players ran into the same problem of being taken down before seriously gashing the Steelers' defense. They averaged 2.7 yards per carry with Ekeler' 10-yard run in the second quarter being the longest of the day. This was particularly damaging to the Commanders in the fourth quarter, as the longest run they could muster was six yards.

5. Short memory.

Quinn and Washington's players said after the game it stung that they couldn't pull out a win at home. They felt like they could win, and they were almost right in spite of their mistakes. They fought hard but ultimately fell short against another solid team.

The Commanders have a 24-hour rule where they're allowed to experience the pain or satisfaction of a game's outcome before moving on to next week. This will be particularly important over the next few days, as they must go on the road to take on the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday Night Football.

Thanks to the Commanders losing and the Eagles beating the Dallas Cowboys, Thursday's game will be for first place in the NFC East. Lincoln Financial Field is always a difficult venue for visitors, but going there at night for a primetime game with division standings on the line will only add to the atmosphere.

The Commanders have the talent to compete with Jalen Hurts and a surging Eagles team, but they must get healthy and more importantly, move on from the pain of a home loss.