Steelers lose regular-season finale to Browns; playoff rematch awaits

CLEVELAND — With the backups taking center stage, the Pittsburgh Steelers nearly completed a comeback from a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter Sunday before losing to the Cleveland Browns, 24-22, at FirstEnergy Stadium.

The varsity will see if it can fare any better next weekend in a rematch at Heinz Field that will have much higher stakes.

The regular-season finale served as a prelude to the wild-card round of the AFC playoffs. The Steelers, at 12-4, will enter the playoffs with the No. 3 seed. The Browns, who improved to 11-5, ended the longest postseason drought in the NFL and will be the No. 6 seed when they make their first playoff appearance since 2002.

The Browns entered the day as one of five possible playoff opponents for the Steelers, who could have secured the No. 2 spot with a win and a Buffalo loss. But with Buffalo blowing out Miami and Baltimore winning big at Cincinnati, it became clearer as the afternoon unfolded that the Browns would be the playoff opponent — provided Cleveland defeated the Steelers after jumping to a 10-0 first-half lead.

Coach Mike Tomlin maintained he wasn’t doing any scoreboard watching.

“I wasn’t worried about next week,” he said. “I was worried about this game and rightfully so.”

When the teams played at Heinz Field in October, the Steelers scored a decisive 38-7 victory. In that game, the Steelers had Ben Roethlisberger, Maurkice Pouncey, Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt available, which wasn’t the case Sunday as Tomlin kept those four players, plus two others, back in Pittsburgh out of precaution against covid-19.

Among the starters who did suit up against Cleveland were guard David DeCastro, all of the team’s young wide receivers, defensive end Stephon Tuitt, linebacker Vince Williams, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and cornerback Steve Nelson.

“We weren’t in rest mode,” Tomlin said. “The guys we wanted to rest, we left at home. The guys that got on the bus to come over here were ready to play.”

It took a while for that readiness to materialize. The Browns scored the first 10 points before the Steelers got three field goals from Matthew Wright to pull within a point midway through the third quarter.

The Browns answered with back-to-back touchdowns in a four-minute span, the second coming after a Mason Rudolph interception, to take a 24-9 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Rudolph threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Chase Claypool with 10:07 remaining to cut the deficit to 24-16. Rudolph then hit JuJu Smith-Schuster with a 2-yard score with 1:23 to play to pull the Steelers within a 2-point conversion of tying the score.

Rudolph’s pass intended for Claypool sailed high, the Browns recovered the onside kick and quarterback Baker Mayfield got a first down before running out the clock.

“Our playoffs started a week early,” Mayfield said. “It just so happens that we play the same opponent next week. We know what the Steelers are all about.”

And they learned more about Rudolph, who will return to the sidelines in the playoffs after establishing a career high with 315 passing yards Sunday.

“I felt like we made enough plays to put ourselves in the game there at the end,” Rudolph said.

Returning to Cleveland for the first time since his skirmish with Myles Garrett in that 21-7 loss, Rudolph completed 22 of 39 passes with two touchdowns and one interception.

Rudolph had five completions of at least 26 yards, including a pair of 41-yarders and a 47-yarder. Tomlin admitted to wanting to see Rudolph execute the deep-passing game that has been a problem for Roethlisberger at times this season.

“Pressure is ever present. You are either feeling it or applying it,” Tomlin said. “It was our goal today to apply it, so that was to be aggressive, particularly with the downfield throws. I thought Mason’s performance was gritty.”

Rudolph’s three completions to Diontae Johnson netted 96 yards. Claypool caught five passes for 101 yards and a touchdown. Smith-Schuster had six catches for 65 yards and a score.

“We knew we wanted to challenge them deep and take our shots carefully,” Rudolph said.

Claypool became the Steelers’ all-time rookie receptions leader with 62, surpassing Troy Edwards by one catch, and Claypool’s ninth receiving touchdown tied him with Louis Lipps for the most by a Steelers rookie.

“It was our intention to feature him a little bit,” Tomlin said. “We wanted him to have that type of rhythm and that type of confidence in his playmaking ability going into January ball. We were able to check that box.”

The Steelers can check another by beating the Browns next week for their first playoff victory since 2016. The absence for the Browns, of course, has been much longer.

The last time the Browns were in the postseason, they were ousted by the Steelers in the wild-card round, 36-33, after blowing a 17-point lead in the second half.

“We have work left to do,” said Browns coach Kevin Stefanski, who was 19 years old and in college at Penn in 2002. “I like this football team. I like how this football team works. I like how this football team responds when its back is up against the wall. We will just keep grinding on this thing.”