![\"Pittsburgh](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766971330_504_image.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nCLEVELAND \u2014 The Pittsburgh Steelers have had multiple chances to clinch the AFC North. <\/p>\n
They\u2019re down to their final one.<\/p>\n
Aaron Rodgers was limited to 168 yards passing and failed to lead a scoring drive on six second-half possessions, allowing the Cleveland Browns to top Pittsburgh 13-6 on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The Steelers (9-7) could have locked up a playoff berth with a victory over last-place Cleveland, or if the Baltimore Ravens (8-8) had lost to Green Bay on Saturday. The Ravens remained alive with a 41-24 triumph over the Packers.<\/p>\n
As a result, Pittsburgh will host the Ravens in Week 18 with the division crown and the final AFC postseason spot on the line in a winner-take-all matchup.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe competitor in me is saying, \u2018We lost this game. We lost a chance to clinch today,\u2019\u201d Steelers defensive tackle Cam Heyward said. \u201cBut it\u2019s also like, \u2018Bring it on. Baltimore is coming in.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cWinner takes all. Let\u2019s win it at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin calls a timeout during the second half of an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Cleveland. Credit: AP\/David Richard<\/p>\n
The Steelers lost in Cleveland for the fourth year in a row and didn\u2019t reach the end zone against the Browns for the first time since Dec. 10, 2009. Chris Boswell made a pair of field goals in the second quarter before missing a 54-yarder early in the fourth.<\/p>\n
Rodgers completed 21 of 39 passes without an interception, but his team did not score a touchdown for just the seventh time in his 256 starts over 21 seasons. He is 1-6 in those games.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve handled adversity well when we had to play our best football, other than today,\u201d Rodgers said. \u201cI have full confidence we\u2019ll go home and win next week. It\u2019s not difficult (to bounce back). It\u2019s our job, playing all 17 games.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andre Szmyt accounted for the only points in the second half, making a 33-yard field goal with 1:40 remaining to extend Cleveland\u2019s lead to 13-6. Shedeur Sanders threw a 28-yard TD pass to fellow rookie Harold Fannin Jr. to put the Browns up 10-0 in the first quarter.<\/p>\n
![\"Pittsburgh](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766971330_967_image.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers speaks during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Cleveland. Credit: AP\/David Richard<\/p>\n
Though Pittsburgh was out of timeouts with 100 seconds left, Rodgers found tight end Pat Freiermuth for consecutive gains of 29 and 11 yards to set up a first-and-goal from the 10. A 3-yard toss to Adam Thielen was followed by three straight misfires to Marquez Valdes-Scantling.<\/p>\n
Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward broke up Rodgers\u2019 fourth down throw in the end zone, making some contact with Valdes-Scantling, before being mobbed by his Browns teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was definitely interference,\u201d Rodgers said.<\/p>\n
Valdes-Scantling was targeted a game-high nine times by Rodgers because both of his starting wide receivers were inactive. DK Metcalf was suspended by the NFL for an on-field incident with a fan in Detroit and Calvin Austin III had a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n
Tight end Darnell Washington also was lost in the second quarter with a broken arm. Rodgers called them \u201cthree impact players for us,\u201d but Steelers coach Mike Tomlin refused to accept their injuries as a reason for the loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get challenged with the attrition component all the time and we make no excuses regarding that,\u201d Tomlin said. \u201cWe have capable men. We adapt, adjust and keep moving.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s back to work for us. We’ve been here before and certainly have a big week ahead of us before the big game in Acrisure Stadium next weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND \u2014 The Pittsburgh Steelers have had multiple chances to clinch the AFC North. They\u2019re down to their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4916,4914,1418,73,75,74,1833,5342],"class_list":["post-72384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-baltimore-ravens","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-wires-bot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72384","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=72384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}