It was another inexplicable, inexcusable late-season loss for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Browns beat the Steelers 13-6 on Sunday at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland. The Browns (4-12) entered the game with a record that was nine games below .500, but prevented the Steelers (9-7) from clinching their first AFC North title since 2020.
The Steelers and Baltimore Ravens (8-8) will meet in a showdown for the division crown Sunday night at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh.
Amazingly, the Steelers are now 0-4-1 in their last five games against teams at least eight games under .500. The streak started in 2020, when they lost to the 2-10-1 Cincinnati Bengals. In 2021, the Steelers and 0-8 Detroit Lions played to a tie. The Steelers lost to the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots, both 2-10 in 2023.
The Steelers still made the playoffs each of those three seasons and are positioned to do so again in 2025. However, the Steelers’ offense did not look playoff-caliber on Sunday, managing only two field goals and no touchdowns. The Steelers drove to the Browns’ 7-yard line during the last minute of the game, but Aaron Rodgers threw three straight incomplete passes, and Cleveland took over on downs.
The Steelers were without their top two wide receivers, DK Metcalf and Calvin Austin III. Metcalf began serving a two-game suspension imposed by the NFL for an altercation with a fan the previous Sunday in Detroit. Austin missed the game with a hamstring injury. Compounding matters was that tight end Darnell Washington sustained a broken arm in the first half.
However, coach Mike Tomlin and Rodgers dismissed the idea that the Steelers lost because they were missing so many key elements of their passing game.
"We've got options,” Tomlin said. “Attrition is a component of it. We adapt and keep moving. We make no excuses about what we do or what we don't do, particularly as it pertains to who's available and who's not. We've certainly got capable men. And we expect those guys to make necessary plays. And we certainly didn't make enough."
Added Rodgers: "Those are three impact players for us, but got a lot of confidence in the guys that fill those roles.”
Rodgers completed just 21 of 39 passes for 168 yards, and tight end Pat Freiermuth was the top receiver with three catches for 53 yards. Veteran backup wide receivers Scotty Miller, Adam Thielan, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling combined for eight receptions and 70 yards. The Steelers were 3 for 15 on third down and 0 for 3 on fourth down.
"They've got a good defense," Rodgers said. "We didn't execute very well on third downs. I didn't have a very good game. We didn't run the ball early like we wanted to. Pretty bad on third down."