What a game to end the regular season and decide a division title.
The Pittsburgh Steelers clinched the AFC North title with a 26-24 win over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night, with Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson each showing off their MVP pedigrees in an amazing fourth quarter. With the win, Pittsburgh will host the Houston Texans in the wild-card round next Monday night.
Here are my takeaways:
1. Instant classic
Two former MVPs trade amazing plays in the fourth quarter with a division title on the line, and the game comes down to a missed extra point getting trumped by a missed field goal.
This was Rodgers against Jackson – and lived up to the hype in the fourth quarter. Ultimately, it was the kickers who made the biggest impacts. Steelers kicker Chris Boswell missed an extra point to give the Steelers a three-point lead, but that was trumped by Ravens kicker Tyler Loop missing a 44-yard game-winner as time expired.
The Steelers escaped with the AFC North title, and the Ravens, who had rallied from a 1-5 to make a run at the playoffs, go home with an 8-9 record, as close to the playoffs as you can be without getting in.
For Rodgers, the old magic was there again with a game and a division title on the line.
Just as Baltimore scored a long touchdown for the lead with 2:20 left, Rodgers took the field, trying to pull off one more fourth-quarter comeback. Three passes for 39 yards and the Steelers were quickly to the Ravens’ 26-yard line.
After two misses, the Baltimore defense somehow let wide receiver Calvin Austin get open down the left sideline, and Rodgers saw it, with a perfect throw for a 26-yard touchdown and the lead with 55 seconds to play.
The two missed kicks distract from an impressive final drive for Rodgers – 4-for-6 for 65 yards in just 80 seconds, doing just enough when it counts to get his team into the playoffs.
2. Jackson, MVP again for a quarter
The Ravens had been sluggish on offense since the opening drive, and Lamar Jackson had 82 passing yards five minutes into the fourth quarter.
And then with a single play, you were reminded what an MVP looks like. Pittsburgh sent a blitz at Jackson, and he sped forward between the two, splitting the defenders to avoid the sack, and then he heaved the ball down the middle 50 yards for a touchdown pass to receiver Zay Flowers.
The pass gave Baltimore a 17-13 lead with 8:42 to play, a much-needed spark in a game where neither quarterback could find a consistent rhythm downfield. The Ravens had won down the stretch despite Jackson as much as because of him after he’d totaled three passing touchdowns in the previous six games while throwing six interceptions.
Pittsburgh had answered with a touchdown for the lead with 3:49 left, and Jackson came up with another huge pass, finding Flowers wide-open somehow for a 64-yard touchdown and a 21-17 lead with 2:20 left.
After 82 yards in three-plus quarters, Jackson managed to throw for 114 and 14 points on two throws in the fourth quarter. Three touchdowns in six weeks, three touchdowns in one game with the division title on the line.
It was all for naught, though because of a missed field goal. Jackson did his part, even converting in the final minute on fourth-and-7 with a 26-yard throw to tight end Isaiah Likely to get in what’s normally called “field-goal range.”
3. It would have been nice to have DK Metcalf
It was a thoughtless act and a costly suspension from the beginning, but Pittsburgh sorely missed the playmaking ability of Metcalf on Sunday. He finished the regular season on a two-game suspension after taking a swing at a fan in the stands during a game at Ford Field back in Week 16.
There’s something about elite receivers in Pittsburgh and bad decisions. Metcalf’s absence factored in why the Steelers hadn’t clinched a division title already, as the offense struggled in Week 17 against the Browns.
On Sunday, without him, four Steelers receivers went into their last drive combining for 91 yards on 10 catches. A 28-yard catch by Adam Thielen was the only play longer than 13 yards before Rodgers found Austin for what ended up the game-winning touchdown.
The Steelers are a better team with Metcalf on the field, and they’ll need him against Houston in the playoffs.
4. Truly a brotherly shove
It’s just too easy.
We’ve seen variations on Philadelphia’s infamous tush push from other teams this season, but Sunday had a literal “brotherly shove.” The Steelers got a one-yard touchdown run in the third quarter from 230-pound tight end Connor Heyward, and among those pushing him across the goal line was his brother, 295-pound defensive tackle Cam Heyward.
It isn’t Cam’s first cameo on offense, as he had two snaps on that side of the ball back in 2020.
4 ½. What’s next?
In both conferences, the wild-card teams look like the ones that have the edge heading into the first round of the playoffs.
That’s the case with Texans vs. Ravens next Monday night. Houston will have the last shot to pull off an “upset” in the first round, with kickoff at 8 p.m. ET in Pittsburgh.
The Texans defense is arguably the best in the NFL, and Houston has won nine in a row, becoming one of the hottest teams in the league over the second half of the season.
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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