Anderson’s Kicks Keep Steelers in Title Race : Interconference: His 43-yard field goal with 1:44 left gives Pittsburgh a 9-6 victory over the Saints.

Gary Anderson kicked a 42-yard field goal to tie the score with 5:24 remaining, and then his 43-yarder with 1:44 left gave the Pittsburgh Steelers a 9-6 victory over the New Orleans Saints Sunday.

Anderson’s winning field goal came one play after Saint defensive back Toi Cook failed to intercept a pass by Bubby Brister that hit him in his chest.

Holder Dan Strazynski just got the ball down in time for Anderson to provide the Steelers with the go-ahead points.

“It wasn’t pretty, but it got through,” said Anderson, who also kicked a 29-yard field goal in the second quarter.

“I kicked it so hard, it might still be going.”

The Steelers (8-6) still have a chance to win AFC Central title.

The Saints (6-8) still have a mathematical, though improbable, chance at the playoffs. The defeat by Pittsburgh guarantees the first non-winning season for the Saints since 1986, when they went 7-9.

Morten Andersen of the Saints kicked a 50-yard field goal in the third quarter to tie the score, 3-3, and from 43 yards with 2:30 elapsed in the fourth quarter to give New Orleans a 6-3 lead.

Anderson missed one from 46 yards on the Steelers’ first possession, a rare error for a man who has made 77.8% of his field-goal attempts during a nine-year career.

Andersen has kicked 77.2%, also in a nine-year career. Only Kansas City’s Nick Lowery, with 78.5% in 12 years, exceeds them in accuracy.

Brister completed 15 of 25 passes for 154 yards, and the Saints’ Steve Walsh completed only eight of 26 passes for 95 yards.

Of Walsh, Saint Coach Jim Mora said: “He probably could have played better, but I’m sure there were other players on our football team that could have played better. That’s always the case.”

Added Mora: “We had opportunities to make plays that could have won the football game for us, and there were times we didn’t capitalize on them.”

The game marked only the second time in the history of the Saints that a game at the Superdome had no touchdowns. The Saints beat the Rams, 6-0, in the 10th game of the 1986 season.

It was the first home loss against an AFC team for the Saints since 1986.