{"id":72266,"date":"2025-12-28T21:20:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T21:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/72266\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T21:20:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T21:20:08","slug":"aaron-rodgers-cant-rally-steelers-to-division-title-as-pittsburgh-falls-to-browns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/72266\/","title":{"rendered":"Aaron Rodgers can’t rally Steelers to division title as Pittsburgh falls to Browns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aaron Rodgers has been sacked more times \u2014 596, coming into Sunday \u2014 than any player in NFL history. But on Sunday, he was determined not to be a victim of one specific, notable sack from one specific, notable defender: Myles Garrett, just one sack away from the single-season record.<\/p>\n

Rodgers avoided becoming a Garrett trophy, but that was about all that tipped in the Steelers\u2019 favor in a tense, grimy 13-6 loss to the Browns. The result prevented Pittsburgh from clinching its first division title since 2020, and set up an all-or-nothing battle for the AFC North with Baltimore in Week 18.<\/p>\n

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From the Cleveland side, Garrett\u2019s pursuit of the sack record was the only real compelling element of the latest installment of the Turnpike Rivalry. Yes, Cleveland has had tremendous success at home against Pittsburgh lately \u2014 the Browns are 5-1-1 against the Steelers in their last seven home games \u2014 but the Browns\u2019 season has been over for weeks. Sunday\u2019s game was about Garrett, and pride, and another look at Shedeur Sanders in the quarterback role.<\/p>\n

The Steelers had much more at stake \u2014 specifically, a division title \u2014 and were more than happy to take advantage of Sanders\u2019 uncertainty and poor decision-making. While Sanders moved the ball well enough in wicked conditions early, staking Cleveland to a 10-0 lead, the Steelers snuffed out later drives with two interceptions of poorly thrown passes.<\/p>\n

The problem for Pittsburgh was that Rodgers and the Steelers couldn\u2019t take advantage of the Browns\u2019 self-inflicted wounds. The Steelers could manage only two field goals through the first three-plus quarters. The two Sanders interceptions resulted in exactly zero points for Pittsburgh. Against Cleveland\u2019s league-leading passing defense, Rodgers could only manage an anemic 168 yards, 58 of them coming in the final desperate drive, and the Browns were able to grind the Steelers\u2019 ground game into the turf.<\/p>\n

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With 2:16 remaining and down four points, the Steelers began a drive that, in theory, is why they brought Rodgers to Pittsburgh. The man has managed more than a few last-minute comebacks in his career, after all. But Rodgers, playing without No. 1 wideout DK Metcalf,<\/a> never looked comfortable in the pocket on his first attempt at a game-winning drive, throwing four straight incomplete passes and turning the ball over on downs.<\/p>\n

Cleveland turned the short field into a field goal, forcing Rodgers to go the entire field in 1:40 just to tie the game. And on this final drive, Rodgers finally, briefly, looked like the Rodgers of old, marching Pittsburgh all the way down to the Cleveland 10 with 32 seconds remaining. But with the game, and a division title, on the line, the Steelers couldn\u2019t close the deal.<\/p>\n

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Rodgers finished 21-of-39 with 168 yards on the day. Sanders, meanwhile, was 17-of-23 for 186 yards, one touchdown and those two interceptions.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh now must face Baltimore at home next week, with the AFC North title at stake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aaron Rodgers has been sacked more times \u2014 596, coming into Sunday \u2014 than any player in NFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3269,8936,76,6538,16704,73,75,74,4921,1829,37635,15380],"class_list":{"0":"post-72266","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-baltimore","10":"tag-cleveland","11":"tag-dk-metcalf","12":"tag-myles-garrett","13":"tag-pittsburgh","14":"tag-pittsburgh-headlines","15":"tag-pittsburgh-news","16":"tag-shedeur-sanders","17":"tag-steelers","18":"tag-the-browns","19":"tag-the-steelers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72266","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=72266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}