BALTIMORE _ The Steelers stood in unison for the national anthem and then won for the first time in five years in this city where "The Star Spangled Banner" was written.
They defeated the Baltimore Ravens, 26-9, on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium, ending a four-game losing streak and what they hope is the controversy that followed them after they did not come out for the Anthem one week earlier.
The victory lifted the Steelers to a 3-1 record atop the AFC North Division, one game ahead of the 2-2 Ravens, who dropped their second straight game.
Le'Veon Bell scored two 1-yard touchdown runs, JuJu Smith-Schuster caught an 11-yard pass from Ben Roethlisberger and Chris Boswell kicked two field goals to lead the Steelers.
Bell had his biggest workload of the season and his first 100-yard rushing game. He carried 35 times for 144 yards. He also caught four passes for 42 yards.
The Steelers' defense sacked Joe Flacco four times with Cam Heyward getting the quarterback twice, forcing a fumble on one of them that set up the Steelers for a short touchdown drive. Ryan Shazier intercepted Flacco once and leaped high late in the fourth quarter to tip another pass that cornerback Mike Hilton intercepted.
Bell's second touchdown came with 2:26 left in the game after Hilton's interception gave his offense the ball at the Baltimore 49.
The Ravens have now been outscored 70-16 in their past two games.
Roethlisberger completed 18 of 30 passes for 216 yards, one interception and one touchdown. He was intercepted once.
Baltimore scored all nine of its points in the third quarter to climb back into their game after trailing 19-0 at halftime.
Baltimore scored for the first time earlier in the third quarter thanks to a Steelers turnover to open the second half. On third down, Roethlisberger threw a short pass to Antonio Brown from the Steelers' 20. Safety Eric Weddle snatched it away and ran into the end zone, but the officials whistled the play dead and no turnover.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh challenged the play and after reviewing it, officials overturned and gave the ball to Baltimore at the 18, but no touchdown because the whistle had blown. Thanks to a sack by Hilton, the Ravens lost six and ended up with Justin Tucker kicking a 42-yard field goal.
The Steelers led 19-3.
A nice Steelers drive on the next series ended with Boswell sending a 44-yard field goal attempt wide to the left.
Baltimore then scored its first touchdown. On the first play of their next series, Alex Collins ran around right end, stiff-armed safety J.J. Wilcox and peeled off 50 yards to the 16. From there, Flacco whipped a touchdown pass to Mike Wallace. Terrance West ran off right guard for the two-point conversion that at first was ruled successful but overturned by replay. The Ravens trailed 19-9 with 6:02 left.
The Steelers scored two touchdowns in the final 3 { minutes of the half to break open what had been a close game and take a 19-0 lead.
Bell scored on a 1-yard run with 3:24 to go and rookie Smith-Schuster caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Roethlisberger with 38 seconds left.
Twice earlier the Steelers' offense reached a first down at the 12, and twice they went backwards from there and settled for a Boswell field goal to cling to a 6-0 lead before those two quick touchdowns near the end.
In the second quarter after getting to the 12, they lost four yards on a Bell run and 15 more were tacked on because of an unnecessary roughness penalty against tackle Alejandro Villanueva. That virtually killed their chances to reach the end zone. Boswell was good from 49 yards to give them a 6-0 lead.
They finally found the end zone after Heyward forced a fumble by halfback Collins and recovered it at Baltimore's 28.
Jesse James caught an 18-yard pass from Roethlisberger and runs by James Conner of seven and Bell of six put the ball at the one. Bell took the handoff from there up the middle for the score and a 13-0 Steelers lead with 3:24 left in the half.
After forcing a Baltimore punt, the Steelers drove 70 yards on eight plays for their second TD. Martavis Bryant's consecutive receptions of 24 and 19 yards put the ball at the 11. After Smith-Schuster's touchdown catch, Roethlisberger's pass on a two-point try was incomplete.
The Steelers scored on their first offensive series of the game to lead 3-0 after one quarter.
After stopping Baltimore's first series, the Steelers were backed up to their three on a downed punt as their offense took the field for the first time.
Sticking mostly to the ground and throwing just short passes, they moved to a first down at Baltimore's 12. Conner's 23-yard run on second-and-18 was their longest of the season and picked up the first down.
But they bogged down after reaching the 12 with a two-yard loss and two penalties that pushed them back another 15. Boswell kicked a 30-yard field goal to end the 16-play drive that consumed 10 minutes and 23 seconds.
