Najee Harris's soft response to Colts thrashing isn't what Steelers need right now

The Pittsburgh Steelers were undefeated heading into their Week 4 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. As the game unfolded, it became clear that the Steelers would have a difficult time leaving Indianapolis with their fourth win of the season.

Despite losing quarterback Anthony Richardson and running back Jonathan Taylor to injuries, the Colts defense stifled Pittsburgh's offense to pull out a 27-24 win.

While standing in the tunnel before the game, Steelers running back Najee Harris was spotted on the Jumbotron holding up two middle fingers. With the victory clinched, Indianapolis Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin called Harris "soft" on social media and then ripped him for his pregame antics on his podcast days later.

Najee Harris responds kindly to Zaire Franklin's trash talking

Harris had a relatively mild-mannered response to Franklin's scathing criticism, per ESPN's Brooke Pryor.

"Man, great player,” Harris said. "We went back and forth at it all game. Competition, man, it just is what it is. I tip my hat off in victories, I tip my hat off in defeats. And also, when I saw that comment, it was more like, I was just laughing at it. Hey man, If I say you won, you can talk whatever you want. I mean, it is what it is. You can't win them all.”

Harris' response may be seen as a classy response by some. Some fans may considered it to be a bit too soft-spoken relative to Franklin's harsh criticism. The Steelers have storied history of being a physically-imposing and hard-hitting team, and they could certainly use some of that toughness on the offensive side of the ball right now.

In a social media post after the game, Franklin claimed that Steelers running back Cordarrelle Patterson runs harder than Harris, who he called "soft." It didn't stop there, however — the Colts linebacker expounded on his thoughts and went on a brutal rant about Harris during a recent episode of "The Trenches" podcast.

"I don’t really know that guy personally," Franklin said. "I wouldn’t say I have personal feelings towards that guy, but what I will say — first of all, he flipped the double birds to our fans. This is where I’m at. I’m rocking with Indy. ... You flipping off my city coming in and then you go put out that type of performance, I’m gonna speak on that. And then to not go out there and really be on some dog barking s---. You actually on some real some soft, scary... And the last three times we played him, he really quit."

Franklin certainly earned the right to talk after the Week 4 performance. He gathered nine tackles in the win, bringing him up to 41 total tackles through four games this season. Meanwhile, Harris didn't earn much of anything.

Harris entered the game with a decent output through the first three games of the season, but he struggled to get anything going against the Colts defense. Although he added 54 receiving yards on three receptions, Harris gained just 19 rushing yards on 13 carries — an abysmal average 1.46 yards per carry.

"And you not a dog," Franklin continued on his podcast. "That's my only issue. You are pretending. You're throwing up the birds like you're about to go stand on something. Bro, that's not what you really want to do. You don't really want to hit nobody out here, bro. Don't do that. You're not that guy. ... Najee is the worst [Alabama] running back."

Harris has 228 rushing yards and 84 receiving yards, but he has failed to find the endzone this season. At his current pace, the fourth-year running back is on track to fall short of reaching the 1,000-yards rushing milestone once again.