Steelers Now
CLEVELAND — The Pittsburgh Steelers entered Sunday’s Week 17 matchup with the Cleveland Browns wide receivers DK Metcalf and Calvin Austin III and lost tight end Darnell Washington early in the game to injury.
The rest of the Pittsburgh passing offense basically didn’t show up until it was much too late, as the Steelers couldn’t come back from an early 10-point deficit, losing 13-6 to the Browns at Huntington Bank Field.
Three times in the game, the Steelers drove down the field, but were unable to come up with points including on the final drive of the game, when the Steelers finished seven yards short. Rodgers threw three straight incompletions to Marquez Valdes-Scantling, all incomplete.
Rodgers had his worst statistical performance of the season, finishing 21 of 39 for 168 yards. He did not throw an interception, but was sacked twice, fumbled once and maintained a mere 64.9 passer rating.
His leading receiver was tight end Pat Freiermuth, who had one catch entering the final drive of the game and finished with three catches for 63 yards.
The Browns scored on each of their first two possessions, with Shedeur Sanders getting bailed out for an awful throw by Harold Fannin, who made an incredible adjustment for a 28-yard touchdown, the game’s only score.
Dugger was late to rotate, put his head down to run, and didn't realize that the ball was so far behind Fannin that it was actually closer to him. Gift-wrapped INT if he was tracking the ball.pic.twitter.com/dzdEnqDpoa https://t.co/hoGk5p9lGO
— Alan Saunders (@ASaunders_PGH) December 28, 2025
Overall, Sanders didn’t fair much better than Rodgers. He completed 17 of 23 passes for 186 yards and the one touchdown, but was sacked twice and threw two interceptions, one to Jack Sawyer and another to Kyle Dugger.
The Browns couldn’t do anything on the ground, with Dylan Sampson finishing with 10 carries for 26 yards.
Pittsburgh ran the ball fine, with Jaylen Warren going for 64 yards on 12 carries and totaling 131 yards as a team.
But the Steelers couldn’t find the scoreboard. A strange choice in the first half ended a drive when Rodgers threw a deep ball incomplete to Scotty Miller on a 4th and 1, well inside Chris Boswell’s field goal range.
In the second half, Rodgers took a sack to push the distance on a Boswell try to 54 yards. That attempt, into the wind and rain in Cleveland, fell short and wide right.
The Steelers’ loss will set up a winner-take-all Week 18 game for the AFC North between the Steelers and Baltimore Ravens at Acrisure Stadium. The date and time of that game has not been announced.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers Passing Offense No-Shows in Ugly Loss to Browns, 13-6
