Aaron Rodgers did not have a masterful performance on Sunday, but he was good when he had to be.

The 41-year-old quarterback led the Pittsburgh Steelers on a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter that lifted them to a 21-14 victory over the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

The Steelers got the ball at their 38-yard line with 7:41 remaining in the game, tied at 14. They then marched 62 yards in nine plays with Rodgers throwing a 17-yard pass to Calvin Austin III for the winning touchdown.

Rodgers felt the play before the touchdown was pivotal as his 10-yard pass to running back Kenneth Gainwell immediately after a false start penalty on right tackle Troy Fautanu had made it 2nd-and-16 at the 27.

"We had to have a drive there," Rodgers said. "Guys made some plays. I thought the important play was the screen there, Kenny cutting it back inside to give us a third and manageable.

Then we actually just talked about that in the huddle before the drive, about just a subtle signal on what I might want if I gave that when Cal was on the other side. That was nice he was on the same page. I didn't throw the best ball, but Cal's so darn fast, he made a great play."

Rodgers threw for just 139 yards on 16-of-23 passing and was intercepted once. However, he helped the Steelers to a 14-0 lead when he threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to D.K. Metcalf with 13:49 left in the second quarter.

The Steelers, though, didn't score on their next six possessions while the Patriots used two touchdown passes from Drake Maye to Hunter Harvey to tie the game at 14-14 one play into the fourth quarter.

Yet Rodgers came through in the end.

"I think it was one of those weird, disjointed games we had three possessions in the first half," Rodgers said. "Then we sat on the bench for what seemed to be 20 or 30 minutes. So, we just couldn't get into a rhythm at all. Defense just kind of stood on their head all day."