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Steelers Season Ends With Wild Card Loss to Chiefs

The Pittsburgh Steelers 2021 season is in the books.

Noah Strackbein

In this story:

The Pittsburgh Steelers 2021 season is officially over after a 42-21 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Wild Card round.

The Steelers defense held strong while the offense started slow, ending the first quarter tied 0-0. Pittsburgh trailed in yards 12-64 but led in turnovers after T.J. Watt swat and Devin Bush interception. 

The second quarter started much of the same, but this time, the defense took it up a notch. 

On first and 10, after causing a facemask penalty on the play before, T.J. Watt recovered a fumble and took it to the house, scoring the game's first touchdown. 

The Chiefs answered on the following possession, driving 76 yards on eight plays to set up a Patrick Mahomes to Jerick MicKinnon four-yard touchdown pass. 

The Steelers' next drive stalled on a third and two after Diontae Johnson dropped his second ball of the first half. Kansas City then marched 74 yards to score their second touchdown, making it 14-7 with two minutes remaining in the second quarter.

And right before the half, the Chiefs found the endzone one more time on a Mahomes to Travis Kelce 48-yard touchdown with 13 seconds left on the clock. 

Kansas City's offensive rebirth continued in the second half, driving 68 yards to move the score to 28-7. 

Following a Najee Harris fumble, Mahomes threw his fifth touchdown of the game, finding Tyreek Hill for a 31-yard score.

The Steelers offense finally answered, driving five minutes and 75 yards to score on a Ben Roethlisberger to Diontae Johnson pass, moving the score to 35-14 with 4:10 left in the third quarter.

Mahomes stopped throwing touchdowns on the Chiefs next possession, but Kelce started, completing a two-yard pass to Byron Pringle to open the fourth quarter. 

The scoring wasn't over yet, though. The Steelers did their best to keep their season alive with a 15-play, 75-yard drive ending with a 15-yard touchdown pass to James Washington. 

With 7:41 remaining the fourth quarter, the Steelers trailed, 42-21.

Roethlisberger finished his final game completing 29 of 44 for 215 yards and two touchdowns. Najee Harris rushed 12 times for 29 yards and James Washington caught two passes for 37 yards and a score.

On defense, Watt, Alex Highsmith and Montravius Adams recorded sacks. Terrell Edmunds led the team with six tackles. 

Steelers vs. Chiefs Team Stats.
Steelers vs. Chiefs Team Stats

The Steelers offseason now starts with big questions surrounding the quarterback and both offensive and defensive coordinator positions. 

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Noah Strackbein
NOAH STRACKBEIN

Noah is the Publisher for All Steelers, Inside the Panthers (InsideThePanthers.com) and Inside the Penguins (InsidethePenguins.com), and is the host of All Steelers Talk (YouTube.com/AllSteelersTalk). A Scranton native, Noah made his way to the Pittsburgh sports scene in 2017. Now, he's pretty much full-yinzer.

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