The Steelers scrambled to get to their New Year’s Eve parties after surviving Cleveland, 28-24, but the champagne will stay on ice, and there was plenty of that to go around Sunday.
It was ironic in a way that Mike Tomlin iced some of his best players for the finale against the Browns at Heinz Field because those inactive stars stayed among the warmest on the roster during the third-coldest game played in franchise history.
It was 11 degrees at kickoff and not suited up and sticking by the bench warmers were the healthy Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell, Maurkice Pouncey, David DeCastro and Cam Heyward.
The idea was simple: No. 1 seed New England was going to thrash the New York Jets anyway, so keep the boys healthy for a postseason that won’t start for two more weeks. Better to be healthy and play the AFC championship game on the road.
“I liked the position that we had,’’ Tomlin said of the first-round bye that goes with the Steelers’ No. 2 playoff seed, already locked up the previous week. “I wanted to ensure some of those guys got to the second round of the playoffs.”
That hadn’t been the case for several postseasons lately, but they expect the injured Antonio Brown to rejoin them as well for their first playoff game, which would leave them only without Ryan Shazier, who took in his second game from a private box Sunday.
They hope the cold lingers as well because their ultimate destination is Minneapolis the first week of February, home to the Super Bowl, a place they have not visited in seven years.
Their 13-3 record tied for the best in the NFL, their best since 15-1 in 2004 and their third-most victories in a year filled with drama, heartache and just strange goings-on.
“There’s been so much speculation on what we were supposed to do and we actually did it,’’ Ramon Foster said. “Everybody’s done their job collectively throughout the season to live up to what we thought we’d do.”
The No. 2 seed has served them well in the past. They were No. 2 in each of their most recent Super Bowl visits in 2010 and 2008. They have not reached the Super Bowl as a No. 1 seed since their 1970s dynasty.
“I think it’s perfect for us,’’ Heyward said. “Nobody’s expecting us because we’re not No. 1 and we’re just ready to play football now.”
They were ready at the start of Sunday’s game against the lowly Browns, whom they helped shove into NFL infamy with their 16th loss. That left Cleveland with the 2008 Detroit Lions as the only 0-16 teams in league history. Tampa Bay went 0-14 in 1976.
The Steelers ran out to a 14-0 lead on Darrius Heyward-Bey’s 29-yard run on a handoff from Fitz Toussaint and JuJu Smith-Schuster’s 20-yard touchdown catch from Landry Jones.
But the Browns caught up. Duke Johnson scored on a 2-yard run and after Stevan Ridley ran 4 yards for his first Steelers touchdown to make it 21-7, Rashard Higgins caught touchdown passes of 56 and 5 yards to tie it.
Smith-Schuster’s hot performance on a frigid day continued with a 96-yard kickoff return, the first since Antonio Brown returned one as a rookie in 2010.
But Zane Gonzalez kicked a 51-yard field goal to close the Browns within 28-24.
Rookie quarterback Deshone Kizer drove Cleveland to the Steelers 27 with just less than two minutes left, but on fourth down, Corey Coleman dropped a pass at the 11 to end that drama in typical Browns fashion.
Jones had his best day in his five NFL seasons. He completed 23 of 27 passes for 239 yards, one touchdown, one interception and a 100.5 passer rating in his fifth career start.
Smith-Schuster hauled in nine passes for 143 yards and scored those two touchdowns. He threw snowballs to celebrate his first and mimicked a snow angel in the end zone’s green grass after his second.
“It was a cold game,’’ the rookie from Southern California said. “It was probably the coldest game I have ever played.”
They of course want more cold, although the Super Bowl will be played in a dome.
“Just a three-game winning streak we have to go on,’’ Heyward said. “You have 3 games and you’re in, and to already say you won one game [the bye] and advanced to the second round of the playoffs is huge.
“I think we have the most talent in the NFL, but it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t do it in the playoffs.”
And that is a cold, hard fact.
Ed Bouchette: ebouchette@post-gazette.com and Twitter @EdBouchette.
First Published: December 31, 2017, 11:45 p.m.
