Steelers unable to extend Roethlisberger’s final season as Chiefs roll to victory
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Dreams of the Pittsburgh Steelers delaying Ben Roethlisberger’s farewell for another week were alive and well early in the second quarter Sunday night at Arrowhead Stadium.
Then, reality set in and the fairytale finish to his 18-year NFL career turned into a nightmare.
Patrick Mahomes upstaged his 39-year-old counterpart by tossing five touchdown passes to lead the second-seeded Kansas City Chiefs to a 42-21 victory in an AFC wild-card game that ended the Steelers season.
Any momentum from the Steelers getting a defensive score and taking a 7-0 lead in the second quarter was squashed when Mahomes led touchdown drives on six consecutive possessions.
The barrage of points came faster than the snowfall that dampened western Pennsylvania. The Chiefs scored three touchdowns within a 5-minute, 32-second span of the second quarter to erase the Steelers’ lead and help them advance to a divisional round matchup next weekend with Buffalo.
“It’s hit me that we lost and it stinks,” Roethlisberger said. “When you get to the tournament, only one team is going to end the season the way they want to.”
That happened twice for Roethlisberger — after the 2005 and 2008 seasons. But the Steelers — and Roethlisberger by extension — haven’t won a playoff game since 2016 when they defeated the Chiefs here in the divisional round. They have lost four postseason games in a row.
The 42 points were the most allowed by the Steelers this season and marked the third consecutive playoff game they gave up more than 40 — preceded by 45 to Jacksonville in 2017 and 48 to Cleveland last year.
“I want to win these games, to be a part of this,” said defensive captain Cameron Heyward, who is 1-6 in seven career postseason games. “The playoffs is where you start, but you want to finish in the Super Bowl.”
Roethlisberger finishes his career with a 13-10 playoff record over his 12 postseason trips that span 18 seasons. He completed 29 of 44 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns, but in a recurring theme, he didn’t do much in the first half, completing just 5 of 14 passes for 24 yards. The Steelers failed to score an offensive touchdown in the first half for the seventh time in eight games when they were limited to two first downs and 44 yards. The Chiefs bested that number on one play — a 48-yard TD pass to tight end Travis Kelce on a third-and-20 that gave them a 21-7 advantage.
“I don’t think any of us played well early for whatever reason,” Roethlisberger said. “We didn’t make the plays we had to early to give ourselves a chance. By doing that, we didn’t keep our defense off the field, and we put them in tough situations to go against a high-powered offense.”
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After a slow start, Mahomes finished with 30 completions in 39 attempts for 404 yards. Kelce also got into the act by throwing a touchdown pass out of the Wildcat formation. The Chiefs, who have appeared in the past two Super Bowls, piled up 478 yards compared to the Steelers’ 257.
“If we want to carve out a niche in this thing and push through the AFC, we have to deal with the likes of that bunch moving forward,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “We understand that.”
T.J. Watt’s 26-yard fumble return for a touchdown gave the Steelers a 7-0 lead in the second quarter, but Mahomes responded with touchdown passes to Jerick McKinnon, Byron Pringle and Kelce before the half was over.
The Chiefs took the second-half kickoff and increased their lead to 28-7 when Mahomes threw his fourth touchdown pass — a 1-yard completion to guard Nick Allegretti, who was in the game as an eligible receiver.
Najee Harris went the entire season with a fumble, then turned it over at the Steelers 29 on the first offensive snap of the third quarter. It took all of two plays for the Chiefs to make it 35-7. Mahomes found Tyreek Hill in the right corner of the end zone for a 31-yard score.
“They’ve got a lot of weapons,” Watt said. “There are a lot of great things they do schematically as well. We couldn’t hold on there as the game wore on.”
The Steelers stopped the bleeding when Roethlisberger threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Diontae Johnson, finishing off a 10-play, 74-yard drive that cut the deficit to 35-14 with 4:10 left in the third. Roethlisberger was 8 of 8 for 75 yards on the drive.
That was of no cause for concern for the Chiefs, who got a touchdown on their sixth consecutive drive. This time, they decided to mix it up. Kelce lined up in the Wildcat, took the direct snap and threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Pringle to make it 42-14.
Roethlisberger and James Washington hooked up on a 15-yard touchdown with 7:36 left. It was the 36th and final postseason touchdown pass of his career. That ranks seventh — Roethlisberger’s uniform number — in NFL history.
“He was 7,” Tomlin said. “It’s been an honor and a pleasure, man. I don’t have the words.”