PITTSBURGH (AP) — The way Aaron Rodgers looks at it, part of his job is to be a “magnetic force.”
This is, after all, why the Pittsburgh Steelers signed the four-time NFL MVP to a one-year deal last summer. And why Rodgers opted to return for a 21st season after two miserable years with the New York Jets, eager to prove he could still sling it. Still deliver. Still win.
Turns out, there’s some life in Rodgers’ right arm yet.
And in his team’s season, too.
The 42-year-old Rodgers threw for a season-high 294 yards, the last 26 coming on a go-ahead touchdown pass to Calvin Austin III with 55 seconds left, and the Steelers claimed their first AFC North title in five years with a 26-24 victory that wasn’t assured until Baltimore’s Tyler Loop missed a 44-yard field goal as time expired.
Pittsburgh (10-7) will host Houston (12-5) in the opening round of the playoffs on Monday, Jan. 12, hoping to end a postseason victory drought that stretches back nearly a decade.
“The belief level in the locker room after a win like this is exponentially greater,” Rodgers said.
Considering the way Pittsburgh kept bouncing back against Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, maybe it should be.
Even with Rodgers’ late heroics, Baltimore (8-9) was poised to swing the lead back its way one last time when Jackson connected with Isaiah Likely for a 28-yard gain that put the Ravens within Loop’s range.
The rookie’s kick never had a chance, sailing well to the right of the goalposts as the Steelers poured onto the field in somewhat jubilant disbelief.
“I’m not going to ask questions,” longtime Pittsburgh defensive tackle Cam Heyward said. “The good Lord made a good decision tonight. I am thankful, and we keep moving on.”
Loop, who had made 30 of 33 field goals this season before his final kick, placed the blame squarely on his 24-year-old shoulders.
“Just mishit the ball,” Loop said while being flanked by holder Jordan Stout and long snapper Nick Moore. “We call it hitting it thin.”
A perhaps fitting way for a Ravens season that began with Super Bowl expectations but never seemed to quite get right to end.
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’ TDs — from 50 and 64 yards — put Baltimore in front.
It just wasn’t enough. And now a long and potentially turbulent offseason awaits.
“I’m definitely stunned,” said Jackson, who declined to speculate on his future. “I thought we had it in the bag, man. … I don’t know what else we can do.”
The Steelers trailed by 10 early, and a repeat of the bludgeoning they took at the hands of Baltimore in the first round of the playoffs last season seemed in the offing.
The defense, pushed around repeatedly by Derrick Henry since he joined the Ravens last season, finally pushed back, and the offense — playing without suspended wide receiver DK Metcalf — slowly found its footing.
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.
Jackson’s 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.
Steelers running back Kenny 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.
Yet on the Pittsburgh sideline, there wasn’t much panic. Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt, who had an interception in his return from a three-game absence while recovering from surgery to repair a collapsed lung, saw that there was still over 2 minutes to play. Plenty of time for someone with 36 game-winning drives on his resume.
“(I thought), ‘This is the best dude in the NFL for this moment,’” Watt said.
A 37th game-winning drive followed.
Rodgers deftly guided 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.
“Being the old guy having a lot of gray in your beard, they expect that (kind of play),” Rodgers said. “And it’s nice to deliver in moments like that.”
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’s season for the second time in 12 months before Loop’s kick started right and stayed there.
The miss pushed Steelers coach Mike Tomlin’s regular-season victory total to 193, tying him with Hall of Famer Chuck Noll for the franchise record.
Yet moments after the 40th meeting between Tomlin and Ravens coach John Harbaugh — only Hall of Famers George Halas and Curly Lambeau faced each other more — all the longest tenured coach in major North American professional sports could do was admire his team’s fight.
Asked about the punches the Steelers have absorbed this season, Tomlin responded by saying simply, “We’ve thrown a lot too.”
A chance to unleash a few more awaits.
Injuries
Ravens: S Kyle Hamilton left with a concussion in the third quarter after colliding with S Alohi Gilman. Rodgers and Pittsburgh’s passing game took off in the three-time Pro Bowler’s absence.
Up next
Ravens: Plenty of time to figure out how to break through next season while Jackson, who turns 29 this week, remains in his prime.
Steelers: Prepare to host the Texans with a chance to end the franchise’s longest playoff win drought since Franco Harris’ Immaculate Reception more than 50 years ago.
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