The Pittsburgh Steelers had the field at Acrisure Stadium blessed with holy water by a priest ahead of their Week 18 matchup with the Baltimore Ravens, so it seems only fitting that an act of God seemed
to push the kick by Tyler Loop wide right to give the Pittsburgh Steelers the win and their first AFC North championship since 2020, setting up a wild card matchup with the Houston Texans next Monday night.
Pittsburgh put itself in an early hole, allowing the Ravens to jump to a 10-0 lead in the first half. A Chris Boswell field goal made the game 10-3, and the Steelers seemed poised to get points before the half. The offense put together a 13-play drive that got all the way down to the Ravens’ one-yard line with just seconds left in the second quarter. Instead of taking the field goal, Mike Tomlin opted to go for it, which was the absolute right call. The play-call itself was not. A toss to Kenneth Gainwell to the weak side resulted in a tackle short of the end zone, leaving the Steelers without points on the drive.
Pittsburgh came out swinging in the third quarter, though. The offense put together a 12-play drive that culminated with a Connor Heyward touchdown to tie the game. Once again, Pittsburgh’s defense in the third quarter was marvelous. They held the Miami Dolphins to negative yards in Week 15. They limited the Detroit Lions to three yards in Week 16. And on Sunday night, the Ravens totaled just 13 yards on eight plays, and Lamar Jackson threw an interception to T.J. Watt, which led to a Boswell field goal.
Then, the quarter flipped from three to four, and all hell broke loose. A 13-10 rock fight quickly turned into Red Dead Redemption. Jackson connected with Zay Flowers on a 50-yard touchdown after somehow escaping a sack. Rodgers and the Steelers answered with a Kenneth Gainwell touchdown set up by a 31-yard pass to Pat Freiermuth. The Ravens staggered, but unloaded another cannonball shot from Jackson to Flowers for a 64-yard touchdown to take a 24-20 lead.
Then, like he has done so many times in his two-decade career, Aaron Rodgers took the field down one score and with a lot of time to make something happen. A 16-yard pass to Calvin Austin kicked off the drive. Completions to Adam Thielen for eight and Kenneth Gainwell got the Steelers on the edge of the red zone. And after a very up-and-down season, Austin ran a beautiful double-move on Chidobe Awuzie, causing the veteran cornerback to slip. Rodgers saw it and hit Austin for a go-ahead touchdown with less than a minute left.
It could have been the perfect ending of a late-night shootout for the Steelers, but they couldn’t ride into the sunset of the postseason just yet. Chris Boswell missed the extra point, meaning a field goal would win the game for the Ravens.
Keaton Mitchell returned the ensuing kickoff to the 41-yard line of Baltimore. And while the Steelers brought the Ravens to the edge of defeat, putting them in a 4th-and-7, Lamar Jackson hit Isaiah Likely for a 26-yard gain to set up a 44-yard field goal from Tyler Loop. And at the same end of the field that the priest blessed before the game, fans celebrated as the ball swung wide right and secured the Steelers a home playoff game.
There aren’t enough words to describe what Rodgers and the offense were able to do without DK Metcalf. Coming off a week in which they scored just six points, the Steelers scored 13 in the final four minutes of Week 18 alone. Considering the constant lapses on defense that led to three touchdowns of 38 yards or more, the offense needed to find a way to get points without their best weapon, and they did, outgaining the Ravens 390-359.
This sets up the first full-attendance playoff game at Acrisure Stadium since the Steelers lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars to finish off the 2017 season. They will host the Houston Texans next Monday night, putting their 23-game home winning streak on Monday nights up against their own playoff losing streak.
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