NASHVILLE, Tenn. — This time, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat their struggling opponent.
Ben Roethlisberger threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Brown with 9:01 left, and the Steelers edged the Tennessee Titans 27-24 on Monday night.
The Steelers (7-4) staged an impressive rally in the second half to take sole possession of second in the AFC North heading into their bye. Le’Veon Bell ran for 204 yards and a TD, and William Gay returned an interception 28 yards for a score. Shaun Suisham kicked two field goals.
“I think we’re only going to get stronger,” Bell said. “We’ve obviously still got to get better, work as a team. But we’re going to enjoy the week off. It’s well deserved, well needed. We’re going to enjoy it and get back to work when we need to.”
Roethlisberger had never beaten the Titans at LP Field, missing the Steelers’ win here in 2010. With Bell running through and over the Titans, the Steelers took the pressure off Big Ben by holding the ball for 39 minutes, 49 seconds with a 386-312 edge in total offense.
“He got rolling, and we couldn’t make a play and that’s disappointing,” Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “That’s the way it went. We tried a lot of different things to try to stop their run game.”
The Titans (2-8) blew a 24-13 lead in their fourth consecutive loss. They sacked Roethlisberger five times and intercepted a pass in the end zone. Zach Mettenberger threw for 263 yards and two touchdown passes, and fellow rookie Bishop Sankey ran for another score.
But Tennessee’s offense fizzled in the fourth quarter. When Pittsburgh got the ball back with 6:58 left, the Steelers didn’t give it back and knelt out for the win.
“We feel very close,” Mettenberger said. “We’re not doing enough to win football games. That’s the bottom line and the most important thing. But rookie running back, rookie left tackle, rookie quarterback, rookie middle linebacker. We’re doing a lot of good things.”