Steelers Now
PITTSBURGH — It sure wasn’t pretty, but when it’s the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens, it rarely is. In a game fitting of the description of the first win-or-go-home AFC North title game, the homestead Steelers battled their way to a 26-24 victory over the Ravens at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday.
Aaron Rodgers led the Steelers down the field with under two minutes to play, leading one more vintage scoring drive in what might have been the final game of the his career. With the Steelers trailing by four, Rodgers got the Steelers into scoring range and the connected with Calvin Austin III on a 26-yard score with just under a minute to play.
But the drama was nowhere near over yet. Veteran Steelers kicker Chris Boswell missed the extra point — his first such miss of the season — giving the Ravens a chance to win the game with a last-second field goal.
A long kickoff return by Keaton Mitchell set the Ravens up in excellent position, and Lamar Jackson hit Isaiah Likely with a fourth-down pass to get inside the Pittsburgh 30-yard line. Ravens rookie kicker Tyler Loop missed the kick wide right as time expired, giving the Steelers the victory.
The Steelers defense, which was stout for most of the day, was gashed for three big-play touchdowns that turned the tide of the game in favor of the Ravens, with two of the coming in the fourth quarter.
The Steelers were leading, 13-10 with just under nine minutes to play when Jackson hit Zay Flowers for a completely uncovered 50-yard touchdown to put Baltimore back in the lead. Alex Highsmith was unblocked on the play and had Jackson dead to rights, but the former MVP stepped out of the tackle to deliver the bomb down field.
Pittsburgh answered with a long drive the other way, capped off by a wild sequence where Rodgers had to burn two timeouts because of a helmet communicator malfunction, but Kenny Gainwell eventually scored from 2-yards out, putting Pittsburgh back in the lead with 3:53 to play.
Three plays later, it was Jackson to Flowers on another wide-open busted coverage, this time a 64-yard score to again put the Ravens in the lead and set up the wild heroics.
With the win, the Steelers (10-7) will host the Houston Texans in the Wild Card playoff on Monday Night Football.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers Win AFC North in Wild Finish over Ravens, 26-24
