The Steelers' ultimate scenario Sunday didn't play all the way out, with the Patriots beating the Jets and claiming the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs. But the rest of it, a 28-24 victory over the Browns and emerging healthy, went about as well as possible.
B.J. Finney, the backup offensive lineman who started at center in place of Maurkice Pouncey, exited the game in the second quarter because of what the team described as a right thigh injury. He was down and tended to on the field for three minutes, but he walked off under his own power with no apparent difficulty.
Mike Tomlin cited only Finney as having been hurt in his postgame press conference, but he offered no detail.
He did, however, say, "We got out of the game, I think, pretty good from an injury standpoint."
Alejandro Villanueva and Artie Burns appeared to get banged up at different points, but there was no indication of anything serious.
With Pouncey inactive and Finney hurt, Chris Hubbard, a natural tackle, was forced to move to center. It didn't always go well, especially when Landry Jones worked from the shotgun, with several snaps misfiring badly, but Jones playfully pleaded, "Don't get on my man Hubs! He's a left tackle! He did a great job out there."
RECORD-SETTING DAY
Not only did the Steelers set a team record for sacks in a regular season with 56, but placekicker Chris Boswell also kicked four PATs to give him 142 points this season. That broke Norm Johnson's team record of 141 points set in 1995.
Boswell, who was named to his first Pro Bowl last week, made 35 of 38 field goal attempts and was 37 for 39 on PATs. His point total placed him third in the NFL behind the Rams' Greg Zuerlein (158) and the Patriots' Steven Gostkowski (156).
Despite not playing the final two and three-quarters games of the season, Antonio Brown ended up leading the league in receiving yards with 1,533. He also caught 101 passes, which wound up fourth in the NFL. The Dolphins' Jarvis Landry led the league with 112 receptions. At the time he suffered a calf injury early in the second quarter of a loss to the Patriots three weeks ago, Brown led the league in receptions and yardage, and was second in touchdowns.
The Chiefs' rookie running back, Kareem Hunt, meanwhile, wrested the rushing title away from the Rams' Todd Gurley, despite getting just one carry Sunday while Gurley and Bell sat out. Hunt had a 35-yard touchdown run on his only carry in a win over the Broncos to finish with 1,327 rushing yards. Gurley had 1,305 yards and Bell 1,292.
COLD DAY
The game-time temperature of 11 degrees was tied for the coldest game at Heinz Field since the stadium opened in 2001, matching the 2004 AFC Championship against New England on Jan. 23, 2005.
It also was the third-coldest game in Steelers' history, one Cameron Heyward called "a two-pants day."
Rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster, a native of Southern California, wasn't bothered by the cold while he was playing, scoring on a 96-yard kickoff return and catching nine passes for 143 yards and another score. But that doesn't mean he's now a lover of the cold.
"I was on the sideline and Ben Roethlisberger said, 'You don't know what cold is. Cold is like January, 8:30 p.m., below freezing,'" Smith-Schuster said. "I was like, 'Wow, that is definitely a day I will be wearing a jacket.'"
This one dramatically affected attendance. Although all tickets were sold, as has been the case for every non-replacement game in Pittsburgh since late 1972, there were 50,704 through the turnstiles, about 18,000 below stadium capacity.
TEN DATA POINTS
• The Steelers’ 13 regular-season wins in 2017 match the third-highest total in franchise history. They won 15 in 2004, 14 in 1978, 13 in 2001.
• This marked the first time the Steelers swept the AFC North, winning all six games, since 2008, and the third time since the NFL realigned in 2002. They've now won 10 AFC North games in a row.
• The Steelers' 406 points were fifth-highest in franchise history, 30 off the record set in 2014.
• With the Browns punting on their first drive, the Steelers finished the season holding opponents to 20 total points on the first drive.
• Tomlin's 116th win marks the second-highest regular-season total in NFL history for a head coach in his first 11 seasons. The Colts' and Dolphins' Don Shula had 117.
• Smith-Schuster is the first Steeler to have a receiving touchdown and kickoff return touchdown in the same game since Gary Ballman in 1963. He's the first to have just a kick return touchdown since Brown in 2010. And his 239 combined yards -- 143 receiving plus 122 on two kickoff returns -- are second-most by a rookie in franchise history. Charles Johnson had 273 in 1994.
• Darrius Heyward-Bey's 29-yard reverse was the second rushing touchdown of his career, the 18th overall. His other rushing touchdown came last season at Miami, a 60-yarder.
• The Steelers have won at least six regular-season games at Heinz Field each of the past four seasons.
• Jones' start at quarterback was the fifth of his NFL career, his 18th game appearance, and he's 3-2 in the starts. His 100.5 passer rating on 23-of-27 passing for 239 yards was the second-highest of his career in a start.
Staff writer Dale Lolley contributed to this report.