Steelers Thrive in Tight Games, Building Confidence

PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Just after the loss to Cleveland on October 1, talk of must-win games and where this season might go. Since that walk-off loss, this team responded and they did thanks to success in tight games.

“We need these games, frankly,” said Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy on Monday. “Trust me, I’d love to win by 21 points every week, but you need these games. I’ve had an experience being 15-1 and not having really any close games and then you get to the playoffs and whoa, here you go, now you are in one.”

It’s not that they’ve been pretty. Even Aaron Rodgers said after the win in Paris that the Steelers offense needs to be better, but they won. To McCarthy’s point about needing these games, they were three teams in those circumstances they should have beaten even if they had to grind it out to do so.

Steelers 34 Indianapolis 22

• In the books, a two-score win, but with 5:10 to play in the game it was a two-point game. Steelers march through a 12-play drive ending in a touchdown to Pat Freiermuth. Then a 10-play drive taking 5:07 off the clock to produce the final score.

Steelers 26 Tampa Bay 19 in overtime

• Trailing 16-3 in the fourth quarter, Darnell Washington catches a five-yard pass from Rodgers for a touchdown ending a 17-play drive. A pair of field goals including a 58-yarder that Chris Boswell had to make twice to tie the game. Jamel Dean’s interception led to another Boswell field goal and its 19-16. Even after allowing Tampa Bay to tie the game, Steelers drove 70 yards on 12 plays eating up 6:45 for the game-winner from Rodgers to Germie Bernard, who finished with 11 catches with three of the top five receivers out.

Steelers 16 New Orleans 10

• From Rodgers running for a key first down late to Washington wrestling a ball away for a touchdown to rushing for 148 yards, in what wasn’t a pretty game the Steelers again figured out a way. The defense came up with big plays including Payton Wilson’s fingertip interception in the red zone as Boswell went 4-for-4 with field goals.

“You have to have those moments in live action,” McCarthy said. “I feel like we are building confidence. We are stacking it. I think there is a tremendous amount that comes from that, especially on the road with travel stress.”

And they’ve done it in different ways with different heroes in different situations. The Browns are also riding that confidence-every single one of the Browns wins have come on a late fourth quarter score.

“Dance those dances, have those memories, I think it’s part of your journey,” McCarthy said. “Close games are critical. Cleveland has won a bunch of close games. That pays forward. Everyone talks about being comfortable in those moments. Everybody trains game management, everybody trains those situations week-in and week-out going all the way back to the OTAs.”

McCarthy got the team together after the first loss to Cleveland and discussed going 4-0 before heading to a bye week. He broke that part of the schedule down to those matchups to give them a goal after starting 2-2. Now here they are with the Browns in Pittsburgh.

“We are trying to complete a four-game run right now,” McCarthy said. “That’s what we set out to do and we got a chance to do it at home.”

“We are right where we need to be.”