{"id":62259,"date":"2025-12-16T11:47:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T11:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/62259\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T11:47:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T11:47:12","slug":"aaron-rodgers-steelers-ice-out-dolphins-from-playoffs-to-stay-atop-afc-north","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/62259\/","title":{"rendered":"Aaron Rodgers, Steelers ice out Dolphins from playoffs to stay atop AFC North"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH \u2014 Aaron Rodgers passed for 224 yards and two touchdowns, and the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Miami Dolphins 28-15 on Monday night to stay stop the AFC North.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh (8-6) won its second straight game \u2014 and 23rd straight at home during the NFL\u2019s Monday night showcase \u2014 by overwhelming Miami (6-8) over the final 35 minutes.<\/p>\n

Connor Heyward finished off a long drive to end the first half by nudging across the goal line on a tush push to give the Steelers the lead. Rodgers added third-quarter touchdown throws of 19 yards to Marquez Valdes-Scantling and 28 yards to DK Metcalf \u2014 who shoved former Pittsburgh safety Minkah Fitzpatrick out of the way en route to the end zone.<\/p>\n

Rodgers connected on 23 of 27 passes at frigid Acrisure Stadium. The 42-year-old looked right at home with the lights on and temperatures in the teens during a night that felt like a callback to his prime in Green Bay.<\/p>\n

\"AaronAaron Rodgers (8) throws a touchdown pass in the third quarter against the Miami Dolphins at Acrisure Stadium. Barry Reeger-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

While those days are long gone, Rodgers is playing meaningful football in December, which is all he really wanted when he decided in June to return for a 21st season. The NFL\u2019s second-oldest player (thanks to Philip Rivers\u2019 unlikely return for Indianapolis) had plenty of help from running back Kenneth Gainwell, who finished with 126 total yards.<\/p>\n

Miami saw its slim playoff hopes vanish in the chill as its four-game winning streak was snapped. The Dolphins prepped by practicing in the snow at nearby Robert Morris University on Sunday, but it didn\u2019t help.<\/p>\n

While Miami took a 3-0 lead during a sluggish first half on Riley Patterson\u2019s career-long 54-yard field goal, Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins\u2019 offense had no answer once Rodgers heated up.<\/p>\n

Tagovailoa completed 22 of 28 passes for 254 yards with two garbage-time touchdowns to Darren Waller and his NFL-leading 15th interception. <\/p>\n

Da\u2019Von Achane, who had powered Miami\u2019s recovering from a 1-6 start, ran for 60 yards and caught six passes for 68 more but was a nonfactor during the middle portion of the game, when the Steelers scored touchdowns on four straight possessions to remain unbeaten at home on Monday nights since 1992.<\/p>\n

\"DKDK Metcalf #4 of the Pittsburgh Steelers scores a touchdown during the third quarter of the game against the Miami Dolphins at Acrisure Stadium on December 15, 2025 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh won for the second time in 13 tries without outside linebacker T.J. Watt during the perennial All-Pro\u2019s nine-year career. Watt is out indefinitely<\/a> after having surgery to repair a collapsed lung sustained during a dry-needling treatment last week.<\/p>\n

For a night anyway, Watt\u2019s absence didn\u2019t matter. The Steelers sacked Tagovailoa four times, and Asante Samuel Jr. picked him off to end a promising first-quarter Miami drive.<\/p>\n

Tagovailoa remained winless in games where the temperature at kickoff was under 40 degrees. Miami had minus-20 yards of total offense in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins\u2019 improved play of late solidified \u2014 temporarily, anyway \u2014 coach Mike McDaniel\u2019s status. With the playoffs now out of reach, Miami will turn its attention to the future, one that might not include the bespectacled 42-year-old whose idiosyncratic approach may be wearing thin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 Aaron Rodgers passed for 224 yards and two touchdowns, and the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Miami…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[6549,19386,1418,73,75,74,1833,726],"class_list":{"0":"post-62259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh","8":"tag-miami-dolphins","9":"tag-monday-night-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-pittsburgh","12":"tag-pittsburgh-headlines","13":"tag-pittsburgh-news","14":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}