{"id":78009,"date":"2026-01-05T05:29:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T05:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/78009\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T05:29:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T05:29:18","slug":"steelers-outlast-ravens-win-afc-north-in-thriller-as-baltimore-misses-fg-as-time-expires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/78009\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers outlast Ravens, win AFC North in thriller as Baltimore misses FG as time expires"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH \u2014 Aaron Rodgers threw a go-ahead touchdown pass to Calvin Austin III with 55 seconds left, and the Steelers beat the Ravens 26-24 on Sunday night when Baltimore\u2019s\u00a0Tyler Loop missed a 44-yard field goal<\/a>\u00a0as time expired, giving Pittsburgh the AFC North title.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh (10-7) will host Houston (12-5) in the opening round of the playoffs on Monday, Jan. 12, following an electric fourth quarter that saw four lead changes, including three in the final four minutes.<\/p>\n

The Ravens were poised to swing the lead back their way one last time after Lamar Jackson connected with Isaiah Likely for a 28-yard gain that put the Ravens within Loop\u2019s range.<\/p>\n

The rookie\u2019s kick never had a chance, sailing well to the right of the goalposts as the Steelers poured onto the field to celebrate their first division title in five years.<\/p>\n

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Rodgers passed for a season-high 294 yards and\u00a0his 26-yard toss to Austin<\/a>\u00a0made it 26-24. Chris Boswell missed the extra point, giving the Ravens a chance to win with a field goal.<\/p>\n

Jackson, dealing with a painful back contusion, passed for 238 yards and three scores, including a pair to Zay Flowers in the fourth quarter. Each of Flowers\u2019 TDs \u2014 from 50 and 64 yards \u2014 put Baltimore in front.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh responded each time, and will now welcome the Texans while looking to end a playoff victory drought that stretches to the 2016 AFC championship game.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh\u2019s running back duo of Kenneth Gainwell and Jaylen Warren combined for 173 total yards as the Steelers bounced back from a loss last week in Cleveland and ended a wildly uneven season for Jackson and the Ravens.<\/p>\n

The Steelers trailed by 10 early, and a repeat of the\u00a0bludgeoning they took\u00a0at the hands of Baltimore in the first round of the playoffs last season seemed possible.<\/p>\n

The defense, pushed around repeatedly by Derrick Henry since he joined the Ravens last season, finally responded and the offense \u2014 playing without suspended wide receiver DK Metcalf \u2014 slowly found its footing.<\/p>\n

Henry ran for 126 yards for the Ravens and became the ninth player in NFL history to reach 13,000 career yards rushing but was held mostly in check during a second half that morphed into an improbable shootout.<\/p>\n

Jackson\u2019s first touchdown pass to Flowers was a thing of beauty. The two-time MVP ducked out of the reach of two would-be tacklers before floating a pass to a streaking Flowers to put the Ravens up 17-13.<\/p>\n

Gainwell sprinted in from 2 yards out with 3:49 remaining to put Pittsburgh back in front. The Ravens, looking to become the first team since the creation of the AFC North in 2003 to win the division three consecutive years, needed all of three plays to reclaim the lead when Jackson lofted a pass to a wide-open Flowers for a 64-yard score.<\/p>\n

Rodgers, in what may be the final stretch of his 21-year career, responded by taking the Steelers 65 yards in six plays, the last a rainbow down the left sideline to Austin, who was alone after a Ravens defender fell down.<\/p>\n

Boswell then missed his first extra point of the season after 40 straight makes, opening the door for the Ravens. Baltimore appeared poised to end its longtime rival\u2019s season for the second time in 12 months before Loop\u2019s kick started right and stayed there.<\/p>\n

The win was the 193rd regular-season victory of Steelers coach Mike Tomlin\u2019s career, tying him with Hall of Famer Chuck Noll for the franchise record and for ninth on the NFL\u2019s career list.<\/p>\n

The 40th meeting between Tomlin and Ravens coach John Harbaugh \u2014 only Hall of Famers George Halas and Curly Lambeau faced each other more \u2014 was among the most memorable.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s also the last remains to be seen. Harbaugh faces questions about his future after a rocky 18th season.<\/p>\n

Tomlin, the longest-tenured head coach in major North American professional sports, heads into the postseason with a club that has only occasionally looked like a contender.<\/p>\n

The real test awaits next week.<\/p>\n

Injuries<\/p>\n

Ravens: S Kyle Hamilton left with a concussion in the third quarter after colliding with S Alohi Gilman. Rodgers and Pittsburgh\u2019s passing game took off in the three-time Pro Bowler\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n

Steelers: LB TJ Watt returned from a three-game absence while recovering from surgery to repair a collapsed lung. He picked off a pass by Jackson in the third quarter, setting up Boswell\u2019s field goal that gave the Steelers their first lead.<\/p>\n

Up next<\/p>\n

Ravens: Face a long offseason after a bitter end to a season that began with Super Bowl aspirations.<\/p>\n

Steelers: Prepare to host the Texans with a chance to end the franchise\u2019s longest playoff win drought since Franco Harris\u2019 Immaculate Reception more than 50 years ago.<\/p>\n

What to know about NFL playoffs: Seeding, schedule, matchups, more<\/a>2026 NFL draft order: A look at where Dallas Cowboys\u2019 first-round picks could land<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 Aaron Rodgers threw a go-ahead touchdown pass to Calvin Austin III with 55 seconds left, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1165,4990,6537,303,1418,73,75,74,726],"class_list":{"0":"post-78009","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh","8":"tag-article","9":"tag-cowboys","10":"tag-dallas-cowboys","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-pittsburgh","14":"tag-pittsburgh-headlines","15":"tag-pittsburgh-news","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78009","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=78009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}