PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Steelers had an opportunity to create some separation in the race for an AFC wild-card spot.
Instead, they came crashing back to the pack and saw their playoff hopes take a serious hit with consecutive home losses to two-win teams in five days. The latest, a 21-18 setback against New England on Thursday night in which the Steelers fell into a second-quarter 18-point hole and couldn’t recover.
“Obviously, this stings, but we’ll be back,” coach Mike Tomlin said.
Pittsburgh (7-6) is the first team above .500 in NFL history to lose consecutive games to teams both at least eight games below .