NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Stephen Gostkowski arrived in Nashville this summer with a jewelry box full of Super Bowl rings and a career colored by longevity that's rare for his high-pressure position, lasting 14 seasons with Bill Belichick and the Patriots.
He might not make it through one with Mike Vrabel and the Titans.
Gostkowski’s shaky start with Tennessee continued Sunday as his 45-yard field-goal attempt to tie the game with 19 seconds remaining sailed wide right. The miss allowed the Steelers to escape Nissan Stadium with a 27-24 win and their undefeated record intact.
“I felt pretty good all game, and came out there and it went right down the middle and faded to the right,” Gostkowski said. “I’ll have to look at it. Just very disappointed to let the team down like that. I was confident going out there, but didn’t get it done. Just not very good right now."
It’s been a miserable season for the 36-year-old Gostkowski. After winning three Super Bowls with New England, after becoming the NFL’s leading scorer among active players with 1,823 points, he's now 10 of 16 on field goals, including two blocked kicks. His six misses lead the league.
“It was a gut punch to see that kick go wide right,” Tennessee quarterback Ryan Tannehill said. He'd driven the Titans from their 20 to the Steelers’ 28 in the final two-plus minutes. “I had a ton of confidence going out there that he was going to nail that kick. Unfortunately, obviously it was a little bit wide. But it doesn't come down to him. It's a lot that I can do better and we can do better as an offense throughout the game so we're not in that situation at the end."
It was a diplomatic answer, but the Titans might be mulling a change.
Gostkowski missed three field goals in the season opener and two more last week in a 42-36 win over the Texans. And curiously, leg strength isn't the issue. He's 5 of 5 this year on 50-plus-yard attempts, including a 51-yarder on this day. But he's coming off hip surgery after appearing in just four games last year with the Patriots, and it's clearly affected him. Most alarming is his struggle in the crucial 40-49-yard range, where he’s 1 of 5.
We’re talking about a two-time All-Pro who had been outstanding from that distance (96-of-124) during his decorated days with the Patriots.
Vrabel was asked about his confidence level in a player who was his teammate from 2006-08 in New England.
“I’m confident he'll make the next one,” Vrabel responded. “It's unfortunate. I fully expected him to make it, he expected to make it, and it didn't turn out that way."
Historically, NFL teams show little patience with struggling special-teams performers. Just ask punter Dustin Colquitt, who the Steelers released this week after ranking dead last in net average and not providing the directional kicking they'd hoped to see. (No such issues with their placekicking, of course: Chris Boswell is perfect on nine attempts this season, including kicks of 38 and 30 yards Sunday, and 38 of 40 dating to the start of last year.)
The Steelers (6-0) were on the verge of an historic collapse before Gostkowski’s miss, having been 224-0-1 all-time in games in which they led by 20-plus points, according to CBS Sports research. Ben Roethisberger threw his third interception of the game — a pass intended for JuJu Smith-Schuster in the end zone — with 2:40 remaining, and the Steelers up by just three.
The Titans had all the momentum, and Tannehill was poised to lead his fifth fourth-quarter come-from-behind effort of the season. They moved the ball to the Steelers’ 25 before a strong Stephon Tuitt rush forced Tannehill into an intentional-grounding call that also carried a loss of down.
“(Justin Layne) kind of grabbed (A.J.) Brown at the line,” Tannehill said. “I was trying to come back inside, find another option. Felt (Tuitt) come in off the edge. Didn't want to take a sack there. Tried to throw it over (Corey 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."
It was a costly penalty for the Titans. Tannehill got 7 yards back with a second-down completion to Davis before missing on his third-down attempt. On fourth-and-13 from the 28, Vrabel wisely played for overtime and placed his trust in the right foot of Gostkowski. In years past, there would have been little doubting a kicker who'd been 57 of 69 from 40-49 yards since 2013.
The Titans were left at 5-1, wondering what might've been ... and nearly was.
Their top offensive players underwhelmed: Tannehill was 18 of 30 for 220 yards and two touchdowns. Derrick Henry, the NFL's premier running back, had 75 yards on 20 carries, no rush longer than 17. And an outsized chunk of their 292 net yards came on A.J. Brown's 73-yard touchdown.
Their defense?
It was what it is. Clamped down some in the second half, but still mostly awful in conceding 362 yards -- 4.9 per offensive play -- and 13 of 18 third-down conversion attempts.
"Sixteen plays on the first series, not being able to get off the field on third down, playing some good defense, and then third-and-longs, again, over and over again," Vrabel bemoaned. "You can't fall behind against a good football team. Give Pittsburgh a lot of credit. This was clearly the best team we've played to this point, and if we didn't play our best, we were going to lose."
"We just can't give a team like that that big of a lead in the beginning," Henry said. "But you can't question the heart of this team, the way we fight back." The Titans' next game is at Cincinnati. Here's betting on a big rebound.