Turnover-prone Steelers bounced from playoffs by big-play Browns

It wasn’t supposed to end this way.

Not after they won a franchise-record 11 consecutive games to start the season.

Not against a team making its first playoff appearance in 18 years.

Not to the Cleveland Browns, who hadn’t won any game at Heinz Field since 2003, and didn’t have their head coach available Sunday night because of covid-19.

The Pittsburgh Steelers weren’t supposed to have another one-and-done playoff collapse to a lower-seeded team.

But that is what transpired in a game in which the Steelers couldn’t overcome a start that tested Murphy’s law in every way imaginable.

Playing arguably the worst 15 minutes of football in franchise history, the Steelers fell behind by 28 points in the first quarter and were ousted from the playoffs 48-37 by the Browns.

The Steelers turned the ball over five times, including four interceptions by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger that negated the four touchdown passes he threw in the second half as he tried to rally his team from a 28-0 deficit.

“You can chalk it up to the turnover game, but we weren’t good enough in a lot of other areas,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “Just not a good night for us. In the single elimination tournaments, when you don’t have a good night you go home.”

The Browns won their first playoff game since after the 1994 season and will face top-seeded Kansas City in the divisional round.

Hampered by three turnovers in the first quarter that led to three touchdowns — directly or indirectly — the Steelers’ season ended with a fifth loss in the final six games.

“We didn’t do enough,” Tomlin said about the late skid. “We didn’t position them in enough good circumstances. We didn’t make enough plays, particularly in critical moments. We were a group that died on the vine.”

The early 28-0 deficit was reminiscent of the 2017 postseason when the Steelers trailed by 21 points twice in the first half en route to a 45-42 loss to Jacksonville. That loss also was at home with the Steelers a prohibitive favorite.

This one stings more since Roethlisberger, drafted in 2004, and Tomlin, who assumed coaching duties in 2007, had never lost to the Browns at Heinz Field.

“I know only one team ends the season the way they want it,” Roethlisberger said. “It’s just disappointing that this season didn’t end the way we wanted it to.”

Three months after losing 38-7 to the Steelers at Heinz Field, the Browns turned the tables on their division rival. The 48 points were the most allowed by the Steelers in a game at Heinz Field, regular or postseason.

Not only were the Browns without first-year coach Kevin Stefanski for the playoff game, their top offensive lineman and cornerback also were back in Cleveland because of the coronavirus.

It didn’t matter.

The Browns didn’t turn the ball over once, with Baker Mayfield throwing three touchdown passes and no interceptions. He had 263 yards passing, and the Browns added 127 rushing yards, the fifth game in a row the Steelers allowed an opponent to reach triple digits. And a defense that led the NFL with 56 sacks didn’t get one in the biggest game of the season.

“If we had a check list of how to play the worst game possible, we did that,” defensive tackle Cameron Heyward said.

Roethlisberger had 324 of his 501 passing yards after halftime as he tried to bring the Steelers back from a 35-10 deficit. He finished with 47 completions in 68 attempts.

The Steelers had rallied to win four games after trailing by at least 10 points this season, but this one was too much to overcome.

After forcing a punt on the opening drive of the second half, the Steelers cut the deficit to 35-16 on their first possession when Roethlisberger threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Eric Ebron.

The Browns went three-and-out, giving the Steelers the ball back a minute later. Roethlisberger led a 12-play, 68-yard drive that ended with a 5-yard touchdown pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster on fourth down. It pulled the Steelers within 35-23 with 2:57 left in the third.

Smith-Schuster caught 13 passes for 157 yards.

After another three-and-out, the Steelers took over at their 37 with 1:30 left. Facing a fourth-and-1 at the Steelers 46 to open the fourth quarter, Tomlin elected to punt.

“We had (made) some stops, wanted to pin them down, maybe provide the short field for our offense,” he said. “I wanted to keep the momentum going in terms of field positioning.”

The Browns deflated any chance of the Steelers completing the improbable comeback when Nick Chubb took a screen pass and went 40 yards for the touchdown and a 42-23 lead. It was the second short pass that went for a 40-yard score for the Browns.

Roethlisberger threw two touchdown passes to Chase Claypool in the fourth quarter. The second one came with 1 minute, 9 seconds left and marked the only time the Steelers got within 12 points in the second half.

The Browns became the first team in NFL history to score 28 points in the first quarter, and they reached that mark barely 13 minutes into the game. They scored on a fumble recovery in the end zone on the first play from scrimmage, a 40-yard pass to Jarvis Landry and two rushing scores by Kareem Hunt.

“That half was one of the weirdest halves I’ve ever been a part of,” Roethlisberger said. “You get down early, but you’ve still got a chance. Then, you turn the ball over.”