Five things we learned in the wake of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 26-24, season-extending win against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night:

1. Houston, hello

As a reward for clinching the AFC North, the Steelers get to play a team that hasn’t lost since two days after Halloween.

The Houston Texans will come to Acrisure Stadium on the heels of a nine-game winning streak to close out the regular season. Over that span, Houston has allowed opponents a per-game average of 19.3 points and 286.0 yards. And while those figures are impressive, what underscores how dominant the 2025 Texans defense has been is that this nine-game run actually raised their season averages in points allowed and total defense. For the season, the Texans lead the NFL at 272.2 yards per game allowed and rank second in points (17.4).

Houston became just the second team since 2021 to allow fewer than 200 passing yards per game and fewer than 100 rushing yards per game.

The Steelers finished the season 25th in the NFL in total offense (305.6 ypg) and 15th in scoring offense (23.4 ppg).

2. Growing together

The faces of the Texans are a pair of men who joined the franchise in 2023 and immediately turned around its fortunes after it had won a total of 11 games under three head coaches over three seasons (2020-22).

Since DeMeco Ryans and C.J. Stroud took over as head coach and starting quarterback, respectively, Houston has prospered. Ryans and Stroud became the fourth head coach/quarterback duo in NFL history to make the playoffs in each of their first three seasons. Coaches/quarterbacks to do so previously were the Cleveland Browns’ Paul Brown/Otto Graham, the Ravens’ John Harbaugh/Joe Flacco and the Indianapolis Colts’ Chuck Pagano/Andrew Luck.

Since 2000, Ryans is just the sixth coach to make the playoffs in each of his first three seasons. Stroud’s 28 wins as a starter are the second most over the first three seasons of any quarterback taken among the top two picks of a draft class.

3. Been where, done what?

Coach Mike Tomlin has liked to reference “hats and T-shirts” games for those in which the clinching of a division title was on the line. The official locker room T-shirts distributed after Sunday’s final whistle read, “Been there, won that.”

The Steelers, though, had lost their two previous games in which a victory would have assured a division title: Dec. 21, 2024, when they lost in Baltimore, and last Sunday when they lost at the Cleveland Browns. But before those two games, the Steelers under Tomlin had won six of seven such “hats and T-shirts” games. Sunday, Tomlin improved to 5-0 at what is now called Acrisure Stadium when his team has a chance to nail down a division title. Tomlin is 4-1 against Baltimore in such scenarios.

Incidentally, Tomlin has thrived in games vs. AFC North competition from Week 12 through the end of the regular season. Over his 19 seasons, the Steelers are 42-16 overall 24-3 at what used to be called Heinz Field in such late-season division games.

4. Make every quarter the third

The Steelers won Sunday despite winning only one individual quarter. They outscored Baltimore, 10-0, in the third quarter (the Ravens outscored the Steelers, 24-16, in aggregate over the other three quarters). The Steelers outgained Baltimore, 88-18, in the third quarter.

That was just the latest of a recent trend of the Steelers dominating play just after halftime over the past four weeks. Since Dec. 15 in games against the Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions, Browns and Ravens, the Steelers have held a 26-0 advantage in third-quarter points and a 474-12 edge in total yards.

Those four opponents over the combined 60 minutes of play in third quarters for these past four games have managed a total of four first downs. The Ravens had just one Sunday.

The third quarter Sunday was a major part of the up-and-down nature of the Ravens’ offensive production. During the first drive of the game, Baltimore had 100 yards of offense. But over their next six drives (extending through the end of the third quarter), the Ravens had just 83 total yards. Then, over three drives in the fourth quarter they had 176 yards of offense.

5. Tied for the top

Lost in the magnitude of the game and its thrilling nature was that Tomlin achieved a significant milestone. The win was his 193rd in the regular season, tying him for ninth place in NFL history with a prominent name in franchise lore: Chuck Noll.

Tomlin’s 193-114-2 record compares favorably to the 193-148-1 Noll compiled over 23 seasons. Although Tomlin has the advantage of 16- and 17-game seasons during his era (Noll started out when NFL schedules were 14 games long and maxed out at 16), Tomlin’s winning percentage (.628) bests Noll’s .566.

Tomlin ranks 11th all-time in winning percentage among those who have coached at least 150 games. He is second in active wins behind Andy Reid (279).

Where Tomlin still has plenty of catching up to do in regards to Noll, though, is an area he can begin to rectify as soon as next week. Tomlin’s 8-11 playoff record pales in comparison to Noll’s 16-8 mark. Of course, Noll’s four Super Bowl titles also dwarf Tomlin’s one.

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