{"id":72295,"date":"2025-12-28T22:10:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T22:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/72295\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T22:10:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T22:10:10","slug":"steelers-lose-to-browns-will-face-ravens-for-afc-north-in-week-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/72295\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers lose to Browns, will face Ravens for AFC North in Week 18"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Cleveland Browns are having another dreadful season and won\u2019t be in the playoffs, but their upset win over the Steelers on Sunday helped set up a win-or-go-home matchup next week between Pittsburgh and the Baltimore Ravens.<\/p>\n<p>Cleveland\u2019s 13-6 win at home over Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers dropped Pittsburgh to 9-7, just one game ahead of 8-8 Baltimore, who beat the Packers on Saturday without an injured Lamar Jackson.<\/p>\n<p>If the Ravens knock off the Steelers in Pittsburgh next Sunday, Baltimore wins the AFC North and gets a trip to the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38040217\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/pittsburgh-steelers-quarterback-aaron-rodgers-117961615.jpg\" alt=\"Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) fumbles while being hit against the Browns on Dec. 28, 2025.\" class=\"wp-image-38040217\"  \/>Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) fumbles while being hit against the Browns on Dec. 28, 2025. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p>If the Steelers win, they\u2019ll get in.<\/p>\n<p>Either way, the loser\u2019s season will be over.<\/p>\n<p>The Steelers could have clinched a postseason spot on Sunday with a victory over the Browns \u2014 who entered the game having dropped four straight games and seven of their previous eight \u2014 but will now have to figure out a way in the final week of the season after seeing a three-game winning streak snapped.<\/p>\n<p>They were without T.J. Watt on defense, but the absence of wide receiver DK Metcalf, serving the first of his two-game suspension <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/12\/22\/sports\/dk-metcalf-suspended-by-nfl-for-taking-swing-at-lions-fan\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">for striking a Detroit Lions fan <\/a>during a game last week in Detroit, was even more damaging against the Browns.<\/p>\n<p>The Steelers were limited to a pair of Chris Boswell field goals, while the Shedeur Sanders-led Browns did just enough on offense to hold off Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38040212\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/runs-pittsburgh-steelers-linebacker-alex-117961159.jpg\" alt=\"Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (12) runs from Steelers linebacker Alex Highsmith (56) on Dec. 28, 2025.\" class=\"wp-image-38040212\"  \/>Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (12) runs from Steelers linebacker Alex Highsmith (56) on Dec. 28, 2025. AP<\/p>\n<p>Pittsburgh had a chance to tie \u2014 or perhaps win \u2014 the game in the final moments, but the Steelers didn\u2019t score after having a first-and-goal at the 10 with under a minute to go in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n<p>Their last play was an incomplete pass from Rodgers to Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Rodgers wanted defensive pass interference on the play, which would have given the Steelers a first down from the one, but it wasn\u2019t called, and the Browns ran out the clock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cleveland Browns are having another dreadful season and won\u2019t be in the playoffs, but their upset win&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3269,4916,4914,1418,21790,73,75,74,1833,4921,726],"class_list":{"0":"post-72295","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-ravens","10":"tag-cleveland-browns","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-nfl-playoffs","13":"tag-pittsburgh","14":"tag-pittsburgh-headlines","15":"tag-pittsburgh-news","16":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","17":"tag-shedeur-sanders","18":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72295","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=72295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}