NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The first 30 to 35 minutes of Sunday's game by the Steelers looked very similar to what they had done last week against the Browns.
The defense was stifling. The offense was efficient. The special teams were, well, special.
The recipe was almost as formulaic as one of the country music songs for which Nashville is known.
But as good as the Steelers looked in the first half of their 27-24 win here Sunday over the Titans, they were as bad for most of the second half, holding on to win when Stephen Gostkowski's 45-yard field goal attempt with 19 seconds remaining that would have sent the game into overtime faded wide right:
It wasn't a convincing win -- at least the end result -- but it was a victory that improved the Steelers to 6-0 for the first time since 1978 and sets up a showdown next weekend in Baltimore with the 5-1 Ravens, with first place in the AFC North on the line.
"It feels good," Ben Roethlisberger said of the win. "Obviously you want to be in this spot, you want to have these wins when you can. Obviously, a lot of our games have been at home which you expect to win, but to go on the road twice and to come here to an AFC team that's undefeated as well and play them, it feels really good. But we know what's coming up next week, we can throw the records and all the other stuff out the window, because we got a team coming off the bye that's one of the best in football."
The Steelers can lay claim to being one of the league's best for at least another week after sending the Titans (5-1) to their first loss of the season.
And it was highly questionable that they would hold on to do so despite sprinting out to a 24-7 lead in the first half, largely because Roethlisberger threw three interceptions, including two in the second half, when the Titans mounted their comeback.
Roethlisberger, who entered the game with 11 touchdown passes and just one interception, had easily his roughest game of the season after a very good start. While he got off to a great start, completing 17 of 25 passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns -- both to Diontae Johnson -- in the first half, he was forced to continually check the ball down and the Titans made him pay when he tried to go down the field.
"I'm really proud of the way that this team came down here, went on the road, against a really, really good football team and found a way to win," said Roethlisberger, who threw for 268 yards. "It wasn't always pretty, there were times that it was, but three interceptions is unacceptable on my part, so I need to clean it up and be better. But defense came through in the end, missed field goal at the end of the game and just kind of everything played itself out and at the end of the day we got a win against a really good football team at their place."
The Steelers grabbed a 27-7 lead on their opening possession of the second half, getting a 30-yard Chris Boswell field goal with just over 10 minutes remaining in the third quarter. But the Titans, who had been bottled up the entire first half, when the Steelers ran 39 plays for 228 yards compared to 22 for 83 for Tennessee, nearly doubled their yardage total on one play as A.J. Brown caught a quick slant from Ryan Tannehill and raced 73 yards for a touchdown that made it 27-14:
That seemed to change the momentum considerably, as the Titans suddenly found the wherewithal to get some stops, forcing a three-and-out on Pittsburgh's next possession, then intercepting Roethlisberger off a tipped pass on first down on the next offensive series at the Pittsburgh 30.
Though the Titans didn't move the ball on the interception by Jayon Brown off a pass tipped by defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, they did get a 51-yard field goal by Gostkowski that trimmed the Steelers' lead to 27-17.
"We gave up a big play for a touchdown. We turned the ball over," Mike Tomlin said. "You do those things against good people, they're going to get back in the game 100 percent of the time. And thankfully, our guys didn't blink and was able to hold it together and make enough plays to secure a victory."
The Titans then forced another punt after the Steelers picked up just one first down on their next possession and running back Derrick Henry finally got rolling a little bit. Limited to 27 yards on eight carries in the first half, Henry had eight carries for 43 yards on a 12-play drive that saw him score on Tennessee's fourth consecutive play from the 1.
Henry, the NFL rushing leader coming into the game, finished with 75 yards on 20 carries and was stuffed on third-and-goal from the 1 by a combined effort from Robert Spillane, T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward.
"They're on the 1-yard line. They got a 250-pound running back. There's no going slow into the hole," said Spillane, who had three tackles making his first career start in place of injured Devin Bush. "So I took all my force with me and T.J. was there to help as well and we were able to bring him down."
The Steelers appeared to get a fourth-down stop, as well, when Tannehill threw incomplete to wide receiver Corey Davis, but Minkah Fitzpatrick, who had taken a bad angle on the long touchdown catch by Brown, was called for defensive holding on tight end Jonnu Smith, giving the Titans a first down:
That would prove costly, as Henry scored to cut the Steelers' lead to 27-24 with 10:15 remaining in the game.
The Steelers, who had 14 first downs in the first half, had just five in the second half to that point and needed get back on track offensively. And it certainly appeared they were doing so, as they put together a 17-play, time-consuming drive that looked as if it would at least end in a field goal to push their lead to six points.
Jaylen Samuels, however, was called for offensive pass interference on a short third-down pass to Chase Claypool, pushing the ball back to the 19.
Instead of playing things safely, Roethlisberger took a shot to the end zone, throwing toward JuJu Smith-Schuster, who had Brown on him in coverage -- along with safety Amani Hooker.
"I'll take JuJu down the middle on a linebacker. I’ve just got to get it about six inches higher on his back shoulder," said Roethlisberger. "And you don't expect the ball to get tipped up in the air and intercepted. You hope it falls incomplete, but they intercepted it and that's on me."
That could have proved to be a very costly mistake if not for Gostkowski, who has now missed six of his 16 attempts this season.
Taking over at the 20, Tannehill got the Titans to the Pittsburgh 25 with a 21-yard pass to Brown, who had six receptions for 153 yards, on third-and-12.
But on first down with one minute remaining, Tannehill dropped back to pass again and Stephon Tuitt came crashing through the line right at him. Tannehill threw the ball out to his right to, well, nobody. And since he wasn't out of the pocket, he was called for intentional grounding, moving the ball back 12 yards to the 37.
"Didn't want to take a sack there," said Tannehill, who was limited to 220 passing yards. "Tried to throw it over (Davis') head in his general direction. He was coming in, but I thought the ball was over his head and close enough to him to not get a call, but they called it, so that's the way it goes."
That would prove to be a costly 12 yards because it took the Titans out of thinking about trying to win the game, instead forcing them to focus on trying to get the game into overtime as the penalty also comes with a loss of down.
Tennessee got seven yards back on second down, but Tannehill's shot to the end zone on third down to Davis wasn't close and Gostkowski trotted out to attempt to send it into overtime.
The Steelers, who had gotten off to such a hot start, were preparing for overtime. After all, Gostkowski had kicked three game-winners earlier this season despite his overall struggles.
"I was surprised he missed it," said Smith-Schuster, who had nine receptions for 85 yards. "Ideally, I was hoping to go into overtime. I mean, a good kicker, I mean, it's tough, but it is what it is. It's a great win for us. We can go home, away, go back home, an hour flight and just enjoy ourself and got the W. 6-0, baby."
It certainly wasn't perfect, even if it started out that way.
The Steelers took the game's opening kickoff 75 yards on 16 plays -- actually gaining 100 yards because of two penalties -- and scored with Roethlisberger hitting Johnson for an 11-yard touchdown.
It was the first time in 23 games the Steelers have scored a touchdown on their opening possession. And it took nearly 10 minutes to complete the drive, keeping the Titans' potent offense on the sideline.
After forcing a three-and-out on Tennessee's first possession, the Steelers made it 14-0 on a 1-yard run by Benny Snell. Tannehill threw a 4-yard TD pass to Davis to cut the lead to 14-7, but the Steelers answered with a 38-yard field goal by Boswell and then a second touchdown pass to Johnson, this one from nine yards out after a 57-yard Ray-Ray McCloud punt return.
At that point, it looked like the Steelers might score 50 points. But the Titans got things rolling in the second half after weathering that early storm.
"I wouldn't say it was anything different. It's just a matter of executing the plays when the ball is thrown to you," said Johnson of what the Titans did differently. "And that's what we didn't do. We didn't execute in those moments, that moment towards the end of the game, but our defense was able to step up and hold them off and luckily they was able to miss the field goal, so ..."
So indeed.
The Steelers had to wait three weeks to get this win after this game was postponed three weeks ago because of a COVID-19 outbreak with the Titans. Tennessee was fined $350,000 for mishandling that situation by the NFL, but the Steelers should be heading into their bye this week.
Instead, they'll now head to Baltimore to face the Ravens next week. And Baltimore will be coming off a bye.
"It's a good win, but there's a lot we got to improve ongoing forward," said Heyward. "I know we were able to answer the challenge in some cases, but we've got bigger challenges ahead going forward."
Tomlin agreed.
"You don't win many games minus-3," Tomlin said. "I think we were minus-3 in the turnover game today. You don't win many games giving up 70-yard touchdown passes. So it just kind of speaks to how our group is positioned. But definitely things to be learned from what transpired."