Texans extend Steelers’ playoff losing streak in possible farewell for Aaron Rodgers | NFL
Sheldon Rankins returned an Aaron Rodgers fumble 33 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter to highlight a dominant performance by the NFL’s top-ranked defense, and the Houston Texans beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 30-6 Monday night for the first road playoff victory in franchise history.
The Texans’ victory means they will face the New England Patriots in the divisional round on Sunday night.
CJ Stroud turned the ball over three times but also threw a first-half touchdown pass to Christian Kirk, who had eight catches for 144 yards. Woody Marks had 112 rushing yards for Houston, which was 0-6 on the road in the playoffs before stopping Rodgers and the Steelers. However, they lost their No. 1 receiver, Nico Collins, to a concussion in the second half. It was Collins’ second concussion this season: he suffered the first in a Week 7 loss to the Seattle Seahawks and returned two weeks later.
Marks’ 13-yard touchdown run with 3:43 left sealed the game, and Calen Bullock added Houston’s second defensive score with a 50-yard pick-six less than a minute later on Rodgers’ final throw of the game — and perhaps of his 21-year career.
Rodgers passed for just 146 yards while the Steelers were held to 175 yards of offense. The four-time MVP has yet to confirm whether he will return next season, but hinted he is nearing the end of his career. After Monday’s game, the 42-year-old, a four-time NFL MVP, said he would wait to make a decision about his future.
“I won’t make any emotional decisions,” he told reporters. “It’s been such a fun year, a lot of adversity, a lot of fun, a great year overall. It’s disappointing to be sitting here with the season over.”
Asked if he approached Monday’s game as if it were his farewell, he replied: “Every game could be my last game.”
Although Rodgers’ play was one of the reasons the Steelers won the AFC North, he struggled in the same way as his predecessors Russell Wilson and Mason Rudolph when Pittsburgh lost its seventh straight playoff game and lost a home game Monday night for the first time since 1991.
Rodgers’ Hall of Fame career may have ended on a forced downfield throw that Bullock stepped in front of. Rodgers tried and failed to tackle Bullock on his way to the end zone.
The Steelers’ defense, long the biggest problem during a nearly decade-long playoff win drought, forced Stroud into numerous mistakes and kept Pittsburgh in the game late.
The result, however, was the same as it has been for the Steelers and coach Mike Tomlin since losing to New England in the 2016 AFC Championship Game, with a fall at the first hurdle, a long walk to the locker room and a longer-than-expected offseason to figure out what went wrong.
With the NFL’s longest-tenured coach all but guaranteed to return for a 20th season if he chooses — even though there were chants of his firing in the final moments — Pittsburgh heads into another offseason in search of a quarterback and answers to a playoff drought that seems to grow in weight with each passing year.
“When you can’t do it, words aren’t worth anything,” Tomlin said after Monday’s loss. “We talk too much in our profession.”
