BUFFALO, N.Y. — On a day in which they clinched a playoff berth without even playing, the Steelers lost the No. 1 seed in the AFC and saw their division lead continue to shrink with a 26-15 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night.
It was the second loss in a row for the Steelers (11-2), who dropped behind the Kansas City Chiefs (12-1) for the best record in the AFC. In addition, it gave the Chiefs the tiebreaker advantage if they would finish tied at the end of the regular season.
While both teams have the same conference record (9-1) — the second tiebreaker after head-to-head competition — the Chiefs would win the next tiebreaker because they have a better record (5-0) than the Steelers (4-1) against common opponents. And there are no more common opponents in the final three weeks.
It also means the Bills (10-3) have crept closer to them for the No. 2 seed in the AFC with three games remaining. And if the Cleveland Browns (9-3) beat the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night, the Steelers’ lead in the AFC North will shrink to one game.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberge looks on during an NFL football game against the Washington Football Team, Monday, Dec. 7, 2020, in Pittsburgh.
Ray Fittipaldo and Brian Batko
Steelers in playoffs for the first time since 2017
The Steelers had already clinched a playoff spot — their first since the 2017 season — when the Miami Dolphins lost to the Chiefs earlier in the day.
But that didn’t carry over to the game against the Bills, even though the Steelers held a 7-0 lead for most of the first half. It was the third game in a row in which the offense failed to score more than two touchdowns.
It all started to unravel when quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was intercepted for a 51-yard touchdown return by cornerback Taron Johnson in the final minute of the first half. Then the Bills came out and scored on their first two possessions of the second half to turn a 7-0 deficit into a 23-7 advantage.
The Steelers tried to fight back when Roethlisberger threw a 3-yard touchdown to JuJu Smith-Schuster and a two-point conversion pass to tight end Eric Ebron to make it 23-15 with 12:18 remaining. Roethlisberger completed 8 of 9 passes for 78 yards on the 10-play drive.
But it wasn’t enough to catch the Bills, especially after Roethlisberger threw his second interception of the night when he underthrew James Washington on a deep pass down the right sideline on the next possession.
The Steelers could not cover Bills receiver Stefon Diggs, who had 10 catches for 130 yards and a 19-yard touchdown. And, after shutting down Bills quarterback Josh Allen in the first half, they gave up 162 yards passing and a pair of touchdowns passes in the second half.
Allen completed his first 11 passes of the second half — six to Diggs — for 117 yards and two touchdowns.
The Steelers gave up a late field goal and Roethlisberger threw his pick-six in a span of 50 seconds to give the Bills a 9-7 halftime lead.
It wasted a strong defensive effort by the Steelers, who held Allen to 76 yards passing and the Bills to 34 yards rushing in the first half.
The Steelers used a lot of different looks in an attempt to confuse Allen, who completed just 10 of 23 passes and was intercepted once by nickelback Mike Hilton. One of those was using one defensive lineman, four linebackers and six defensive backs on third down.
But after kicker Tyler Bass converted a 34-yard field goal with 1:42 remaining to cut the Steelers’ lead to 7-3, Roethlisberger’s soft second-down pass for Smith-Schuster was intercepted by Johnson and returned for a score with 52 seconds remaining. Bass missed the extra point.
The Bills padded the lead to 16-7 on the first possession of the second half when Allen threw a 19-yard touchdown to Diggs, who was wide open on a slant after cornerback Steven Nelson slipped and fell in coverage.
Then the Bills started to make it look easy. Allen had back-to-back completions of 22 and 19 yards to Diggs, who was repeatedly wide open in the secondary, to get to the Steelers 16-yard line. Two plays later, Allen connected with receiver Gabriel Davis for a 13-yard touchdown in front of safety Minkah Fitzpatrick to make it 23-7.
The Steelers started Avery Williamson and Marcus Allen for the first time at inside linebacker because Vince Williams was on the reserve/COVID-19 list and Robert Spillane was on injured reserve. They were also playing without cornerback Joe Haden (concussion).
The offense lost guard Matt Feiler in the first quarter when he injured his shoulder and did not return. His replacement, rookie Kevin Dotson, left the game in the third quarter and did not return.
The Steelers got on the board first when Roethlisberger threw a 19-yard touchdown to Washington with 8:21 remaining in the second quarter — three plays after the Bills tight end Dawson Knox fumbled after a catch and cornerback Cam Sutton recovered at the Bills 30. The fumble was forced by Mike Hilton.
Washington was playing in place of Diontae Johnson, who, as Mike Tomlin promised, was benched after dropping a pass on each of the first two series.
Tyson Alualu’s sack in the second quarter gave the Steelers a sack in 70 consecutive games, breaking the former NFL record of 69 held by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1999-2003).
