BALTIMORE -- Try as they might, the Steelers just weren't good enough to cobble together that last win that eluded them over the final three weeks of the season.
Not against the Bills three weeks ago. Not against the Jets last week in New Jersey. And certainly not against the Ravens on this Sunday in Baltimore.
Despite the Ravens sitting a number of starters against the Steelers Sunday, Baltimore rushed for 223 yards on a rainy, cold day at M&T Bank Stadium, nearly 50 more yards than the Steelers gained as a team in a 28-10 win over their heated rivals.
Even the Steelers' defense wilted in this one, worn down by a season of carrying the team on its collective back.
"We knew as soon as Ben (Roethlisberger) went down, a lot was going to be on the defense," cornerback Mike Hilton said. "The offense had a lot of injuries, some things you can’t control. We enjoyed the pressure. We took it and ran with it and proved what kind of defense we are."
But in the end, even that was not good enough. Certainly not enough to overcome an offense that produced just nine touchdowns in its final eight games.
"Our defense has been smoking hot. I find myself apologizing to them, ‘Guys, I’m sorry.’ That’s all we can do," guard Ramon Foster said. "It’s just full execution as a team as much as you can. We didn’t do enough offensively, period. That defense is really special. Period. You get Ben hopefully back next year. I don’t want to fall on that, but that’s the reality. When you have a Super Bowl-winning, franchise quarterback and that defense, if they can keep everybody intact, it will be something really nice moving forward."
That's where the Steelers find themselves now after their third-consecutive loss to close out the season. A month ago, they were 8-5 and flying high. Finishing like this, with a thud, puts a taint on a team that went 8-6 without Roethlisberger. That recovered from a 1-4 start. That seemingly willed itself to victories for a large portion of this season.
But they could largely only watch as the Titans were beating the Texans' backups in Houston, with a victory securing Tennessee's spot in the playoffs. The Titans wound up winning that game, 35-14, making the Steelers' game anticlimactic.
"It’s very disappointing," cornerback Joe Haden said. "We had control of our own destiny. We were trying to figure out what seed we would be. Now, not making it kind of sucks. We have a really good group of dudes here. I’m really excited about what the future holds. The young guys, especially on the defensive side of the ball, I’m excited about getting back to work with them."
That won't happen for several months. And now, they'll spend the next month watching other teams, including the Ravens, play for the Super Bowl.
The Ravens (14-2) set a team record for wins in a season and a new league record for rushing yards in a season. They needed 93 yards to move past the 1978 Patriots to set that record. And they got there in the second quarter, as Gus Edwards posted a career-high 130 yards on 21 carries.
But the Steelers were holding the Ravens to field goals early while the offense got itself into the game.
So, after falling behind 6-0 on a pair of Justin Tucker field goals, the Steelers finally put together a drive at the end of the first quarter, riding Benny Snell, who had six carries for 40 yards during the possession, finishing it off with a 4-yard touchdown run.
Included on that drive was this nifty 19-yard run on third-and-1 that set up his touchdown on the next play.
That was it. The lone Steelers' offensive highlight of the game.
That 7-6 lead looked like it might be enough as the Steelers started settling in on defense, stopping the Ravens on their next possession and getting the ball back. But a holding penalty on Alejandro Villanueva and a sack ended a drive that had gone to midfield and the Ravens started running quarterback Robert Griffin III to combat the adjustments the Steelers had made defensively.
"I think we gave up too much with the runs," Bud Dupree said. "We played assignment football. The outside guys had the quarterback. Different guys had the running backs."
That led to another Tucker field goal and a 9-7 lead. But the Steelers got the ball back with 1:10 remaining and Devlin Hodges threw a dumpoff to Jaylen Samuels that gained 16 yards to the Pittsburgh 45.
On second-and-10, however, Hodges was sacked again, this time by Matthew Judon, who stripped him of the ball. Samuels hustled back to fall on the loose ball, but it squirted out from under him and Michael Pierce recovered it to give the Ravens the ball back.
That set up an 8-yard touchdown run by Justice Hill, who bounced off tackle attempts by Terrell Edmunds and Cam Heyward to get into the end zone.
"We didn’t tackle well," Heyward said, adding. "This game will humble you."
With the Steelers trailing 16-7, the game was essentially over. It was just going to be a matter of by how much the Ravens would win.
Even though the defense gave the offense the ball back in the third quarter at the Baltimore 34 on a T.J. Watt forced fumble and recovery by Haden, all the Steelers managed was a Chris Boswell field goal.
And that wouldn't be enough to overcome the miscues that were coming.
Trailing 19-10, the Steelers lined up to punt from their own 19 with 4:41 remaining. This happened.
As if that wasn't bad enough, Kerrith Whyte misplayed Tucker's short kickoff right after that, as it sailed over his head. He picked it up at the 3, but returned it only to the 6.
That allowed the Ravens to pressure Hodges into a safety -- the third given up by the Steelers this season -- when he was called for intentional grounding in the end zone.
Just like that, it was 28-10.
"It's tough," said Heyward. "Three weeks ago, I thought we had a real shot. It hurts. The hourglass is getting smaller for a lot of guys. This team won't be the same. This season is over with. Guys leave. It's never going to be the same team. It sucks, because I have a lot of great teammates. I grew with a lot of guys this year. It hurts to close the book on this season."
But close the book on it the Steelers have.
Now, it will be time for reflection and contracts and signings and releases.
"It’s disappointing," David DeCastro said. "We had it in front of us. We didn’t get it done. There’s no woulda, coulda, shoulda. We weren’t good enough.
"We sucked. We sucked on offense. We had a little streak there where we were doing just good enough, but we were pretty bad in the second half of the season."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE DATA
• The Steelers forced two turnovers -- a Haden fumble recovery and interception -- that gave them an NFL-high 38 takeaways this season.
• Devin Bush had 12 tackles to finish the season with a team-best 109.
• Watt had a half-sack to give him a career-high 14.5 this season, the most in the AFC. His forced fumble also gave him eight this season to match Arizona's Chandler Jones for the league lead.
• Dupree and Heyward also had sacks to give them 11.5 and 9.0 for the season. The Steelers finished the year with 54 sacks, one off the team record.
• Snell had 91 yards rushing on 18 carries.
• Hodges was just 9 of 25 for 95 passing yards, while Griffin wasn't much better, completing 11 of 21 passes for 96 yards.
• Diontae Johnson caught four passes for 54 yards.
• The Steelers ran 50 offensive plays to 68 for the Ravens. The Steelers were 5 of 12 on third downs, while the Ravens were 7 of 16.
• The Ravens held the ball 39:27 compared to 20:33 for the Steelers.
• The Steelers and Ravens had six penalties each.
THE INJURIES
• James Conner (quad, did not play)
• Maurkice Pouncey (knee, did not play)
THE SCHEDULE
The Steelers will head home to Pittsburgh to hold film review meetings Monday, with an open locker room from 1:15 to 2 p.m.. Mike Tomlin will hold his weekly press conference later in the week after player exit interviews are conducted. I'll have all of the coverage.
THE COVERAGE
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PHOTO GALLERY
Steelers vs. Ravens, Dec. 29, 2019, Baltimore. - AP