Steelers' Victory Over Ravens: National Reaction To Wild Win

PITTSBURGH, PA — In possibly the wildest finish to any NFL game this season, the Steelers defeated the Baltimore Ravens 26-24 on Sunday night to capture the AFC North crown.

The victory came after usually reliable Steelers kicker Chris Boswell missed an extra point after a touchdown and Ravens rookie kicker Tyler Loop missed a 44-yard field goal attempt as time expired that would have given Baltimore the win.

Here's what national football writers are saying about the game:

• Brooke Pryor, ESPN: "Coming off a dreadful outing in the loss to the Browns, Aaron Rodgers said during the week that he didn't have a lot of 'back-to-back stinkers.' The regular-season finale wasn't quite a stinker, but he didn't bounce back with a signature cold-weather Rodgers performance."

• Brian DeArdo, CBS Sports: "After a slow start, Rodgers and the Steelers' offense got hot in the second half. Of Rodgers' 294 passing yards, 209 of those were gained during the second half as the Steelers scored 23 of their 26 points during the game's final 30 minutes."

• USA Today: "The Steelers offense isn’t pretty. The Steelers' defense looked like it forgot how to play at times in Week 18. Rodgers had to use the Steelers’ final timeouts to deal with some bad helmet communication. Boswell missed his first extra point of the season. None of that mattered. They still found a way to win. Now they’ll have a chance to win their first playoff game since 2017."

• Jacob Punturi, Sports Illustrated: "The Pittsburgh Steelers did it. They are AFC North champions for the first time since 2020 after a thrilling victory in Week 18. Now the Steelers are host the Houston Texans to finish off Wild Card Weekend. It's another challenging matchup and another game that the Steelers will likely be considered the underdogs. But against the ever-growing odds, it's possible that the Steelers could actually do this. They might just have what it takes to win the Super Bowl."