Browns stun Steelers with last-minute TD for another Thursday night loss

CLEVELAND – This was everything the Pittsburgh Steelers expected of a Thursday night game in late November against the Cleveland Browns: sub-freezing temperatures, a snow-covered field and a deflating defeat.

The Browns capitalized on a confusing call when the Steelers’ decision to accept a penalty backfired, and Nick Chubb scored on a 2-yard touchdown run in the final minute for a 24-19 victory in an AFC North game at Huntington Bank Field.

“It’s something you never want to have on your record,” Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. said. “You never want to lose these games, especially a division game on a Thursday Night Football. You’ve got to come out with those wins.”

The Browns (3-8) ended the five-game winning streak of the Steelers (8-3) and handed them a fifth loss in their past six Thursday night games. The Steelers dropped to 2-8 in road games played on three days of rest under coach Mike Tomlin.

Steelers defensive captain Cameron Heyward blamed the loss on their “missed opportunities.” The offense held a 368-304 edge in total yards but didn’t score a touchdown until the fourth quarter, while the defense held the Browns to 1 for 10 on third down but allowed them to go 4 for 4 on fourth-down attempts and 3 for 4 in the red zone.

“We have to eat it,” Heyward said. “They made more plays at the end. Some of that’s stuff we could have some head-scratching about what was displayed, but you just take it and move on. I know everybody’s pretty pissed off about the loss, but you learn from it and be better next time.”

The Steelers took a 19-18 lead on Russell Wilson’s 23-yard touchdown pass to Calvin Austin with 6:15 remaining in the fourth quarter, then got a critical turnover on cornerback Donte Jackson’s interception with 4:22 remaining.

But the Steelers offense went three-and-out and Corliss Waitman’s 15-yard punt gave the Browns the ball at the Pittsburgh 45. The call in question came on a third-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 26 with two minutes remaining. Under pressure, Browns quarterback Jameis Winston threw the ball away but center Ethan Pocic drew a flag for trying to catch the ball.

Originally signaled by officials as intentional grounding, it was instead called a penalty for an illegal touch of a pass. It was announced that the Steelers declined the penalty, which would have forced a fourth down. Instead, they accepted the 5-yard penalty, then burned a timeout.

“I thought it was a grounding initially,” Tomlin said. “I couldn’t hear the officials. When I was realized it wasn’t ruled a grounding, I got information from them and made the call that we wanted to make. Distance was more important to us, if it wasn’t grounding. We wanted to move them 5 yards back. They were potentially kicking into the wind, so we wanted to stop them and make the field goal a longer one.”

Instead of the “more problematic kick” Tomlin was seeking, Cleveland converted a third-and-6 for a first down when Winston completed a 15-yard pass to Jerry Jeudy to put the Browns in scoring position.

The Steelers refused to blame the confusion surrounding that call for the plays that followed, as Chubb ran 7 yards to set up his 2-yard scoring run. A 2-point conversion attempt failed.

“We got our minds right for the next down,” Porter said. “We had the call. We just had to execute.”

Despite their record, the Browns dominated the first half as reigning NFL defensive player of the year Myles Garrett was disruptive in recording three sacks in the face of double-team blocks and chips.

The Steelers’ opening drive stalled when Garrett sacked Wilson on third-and-3 for an 8-yard loss, moving the ball back to Cleveland’s 40. Boswell’s 58-yard field goal attempt with the wind at his back sailed wide right, only his second miss of the season.

Boswell got another chance early in the second quarter, set up by Austin’s 46-yard catch on a post pattern to the Cleveland 27. Boswell converted a 48-yard field goal to give the Steelers a 3-0 lead at 10:53.

The lead was short-lived, as the Browns answered with a 12-play, 80-yard scoring drive that saw Winston connect with Jeudy three times for 39 yards, a fourth-and-1 conversion and was capped by Chubb’s 2-yard touchdown run for a 7-3 lead with 4:00 left in the half.

Garrett then stripped a scrambling Wilson and poked the loose ball toward linebacker Winston Reid for a fumble recovery at the Steelers’ 31. A 34-yard field goal by Dustin Hopkins gave the Browns a 10-3 lead with 40 seconds left. Wilson found Pat Freiermuth for a 19-yard gain but after two incompletions was sacked by Garrett to end the half.

“They brought it and they brought it instantly early on,” Tomlin said. “I thought we settled down and got competitive but it produced some negativity, particularly in the first half.”

The Steelers created a turnover early in the third quarter on a 24-yard pass to Cedric Tillman when strong safety DeShon Elliott’s tackle forced a fumble that was recovered by cornerback Donte Jackson at the Pittsburgh 25. The Steelers went for it on fourth-and-1 at their own 46, only for Browns defensive tackle Maurice Hurst II to stuff Jaylen Warren for a 1-yard loss.

A 35-yard pass to Van Jefferson put the Steelers deep in Browns territory and Wilson found Freiermuth for 9 yards on fourth-and-1 but had to settle for Boswell’s 28-yard field goal that cut it to 10-6.

Winston answered with a 29-yard pass to tight end Blake Whiteheart to spark a 10-play, 64-yard scoring drive that included a fourth-and-1 conversion by Chubb. The Steelers avoided a touchdown when tight end David Njoku dropped a pass in the end zone, but the Browns went for it on fourth-and-goal from the 2.

Winston rolled right, pump-faked a pass and bounced off Cameron Heyward’s hit at the goal line to somersault into the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown run. Winston then completed a 2-point conversion pass to Njoku for an 18-6 Browns lead with 12:16 remaining.

The Steelers turned to Justin Fields for a change of pace, and he provided just that by breaking a 30-yard run to the Cleveland 35. Browns linebacker Jordan Hicks drew a roughing-the-passer penalty, giving the Steelers a first down. After an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty by safety Grant Delpit, Jaylen Warren scored on a 3-yard run to cut it to 18-13 with 7:57 to play.

The Steelers defense came up with another big turnover on a blindside strip-sack of Winston by outside linebacker Nick Herbig that was recovered by Elliott at Cleveland’s 27 at 7:05. It marked the second consecutive game that Elliott recovered a fumble forced by Herbig.

Three plays and 50 seconds later, Wilson connected with Austin for the one-point lead. Their 2-point pass attempt to Cordarrelle Patterson failed, and the Steelers were clinging to a one-point advantage.

The Browns answered with a nine-play, 45-yard scoring drive to hand the Steelers their first loss in division play. Wilson’s final desperation pass was batted down in the end zone as time expired.

“We should’ve won that game,” Wilson said. “We felt like we battled. We fought our butts off. It was a tough environment, obviously. We wanted to win this one. Unfortunately, we came up short.”