CLEVELAND — On a rainy, gloomy afternoon along the shore of Lake Erie, with the chance to win the division at their fingertips, the Pittsburgh Steelers let the opportunity slip through their grasp Sunday with the football equivalent of a faceplant into the frigid waters.
Presented a chance to secure the AFC North and have a restful final week of the regular season, the Steelers put on an offensive performance that was as bleak as the conditions at Huntington Bank Field. Not only did the Steelers fail to clinch their first division title since 2020, they had their three-game winning streak and any late-season momentum sapped with a 13-6 loss to the Cleveland Browns.
Yes, the three-win Cleveland Browns.
“It feels terrible,” center Zach Frazier said. “Obviously, we wanted to win this game and lock it up now, but we need to pivot quickly and realize it’s all still there.”
The surprising loss sets up a winner-take-all showdown for the AFC North crown next weekend at Acrisure Stadium. The Steelers (9-7) must beat the Baltimore Ravens (8-8) to earn the conference’s No. 4 seed or spend the offseason completing what went wrong with so much at stake.
The Ravens kept their playoff hopes alive with a win at Green Bay on Saturday night, and then they got the help they needed when the Browns raced to a 10-point lead in the first quarter and never trailed against the Steelers.
“We weren’t expecting to come in here and run away with it,” wide receiver Scotty Miller said. “We knew it would be a tough game. It’s definitely frustrating, but it’s the NFL, and we’ve got a great opportunity next week to get it done.”
Maybe the result shouldn’t have been surprising considering the Browns have won four in a row at home against the Steelers and are 6-1-1 against them in the past eight matchups here.
Missing star receiver DK Metcalf, who was serving the first of his two-game suspension, the Steelers managed just a pair of Chris Boswell field goals. Aaron Rodgers completed 21 of 39 attempts for 168 yards and a season-low 64.9 passer rating, and his last-ditch attempt to get the Steelers into the end zone came up 7 yards short.
It was the first time the Steelers were held to two field goals in a loss since Oct. 1, 2023, in a 30-6 defeat at Houston.
“I didn’t think we played poorly,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “We just didn’t make enough plays. … We never made that signature play that got us over the hump.”
Perhaps the only thing the offense did well was prevent Browns pass rusher Myles Garrett from setting the NFL single-season sacks record. Garrett was shut out, leaving him with 22 sacks and one-half behind the record heading into the final weekend. He totaled one tackle and a quarterback hit the lone time he managed to get near Rodgers.
“The sack record is irrelevant,” Tomlin said. “We have to minimize him if we want to engineer victory.”
The Steelers ran just one play inside the red zone until a last-ditch drive in the final two minutes that ended with Rodgers throwing incomplete for Marquez Valdes-Scantling on three successive attempts.
“We didn’t execute very well on third down,” said Rodgers, mindful the Steelers were 3 of 15 in such situations. “I didn’t have a good game. We didn’t run the ball early like we wanted to. We were pretty bad on third down.”
The Steelers clearly missed Metcalf, their top receiving threat. Tight end Jonnu Smith had five catches but for just 18 yards. Pat Freiermith had three catches for 63 yards but had just one reception until the final drive. Valdes-Scantling caught three of nine targets for 21 yards.
“A player like him, he’s paid the way he is for a reason,” wide receiver Adam Thielen said of Metcalf’s absence.“He’s a difference maker. He draws a lot of attention, and he makes a lot of big plays. Tough to not have him there, but that’s no excuse. We feel very strongly that whoever is out there can make those plays and carry the weight that we’re missing.”
The Browns made the first wise decision by electing to receive the ball after winning the coin toss. They got a 50-yard field goal on the opening drive. After the Steelers went three-and-out, the Browns went 86 yards in six plays, with rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders throwing a 28-yard touchdown pass for a 10-0 lead.
The Browns had five first downs on the first two drives and six the rest of the game, none in the fourth quarter.
“We quit giving up the bonehead plays,” defensive captain Cameron Heyward said.
Still, the Steelers couldn’t catch up.
In the first half, the Steelers had a fourth-down stop and an interception, but they came away with zero points after each turnover. Nick Herbig also dropped an interception that easily could have been returned for a touchdown.
The Steelers went for it on fourth-and-1 from the 22. With hulking tight end Darnell Washington out with a broken arm, the Steelers eschewed a “tush push” play. Rodgers threw a deep pass to Miller in the end zone that was high and out of bounds.
“We’ve got options,” Tomlin said about changing his personnel grouping on fourth down following a timeout. “Attrition is a component of it. We adapt and keep moving.’
In the second half, the Steelers couldn’t convert a Kyle Dugger interception into points, and Boswell missed a 54-yard attempt after the offense lost 9 yards over second and third down. After the Browns went ahead 13-6 with 1:40 to play, Rodgers threw a 15-yard completion to Miller and passes of 29 and 11 yards to Freiermuth. That put the ball on the 10 with 32 seconds left.
Rodgers looked for Valdes-Scantling, his former Green Bay Packers teammate, on the Steelers’ final three snaps. It was a situation that could have benefited from Metcalf’s presence.
“Losing DK is a tough challenge,” Freiermuth said. “As competitors, we have to be able to step up.”
The Steelers will have to manage his absence next weekend against the Ravens.
“We’ve done it all season,” Rodgers said. “We’ve handled adversity well, and when we had to play our best ball we did. Other than today.”