Steelers rally past Titans, 27-24

This time, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat their struggling opponent.

Ben Roethlisberger threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Brown with 9 minutes 1 second left, and the Steelers defeated the Tennessee Titans, 27-24, on Monday night.

The Steelers pieced together an impressive rally in the second half to take sole possession of second place in the AFC North heading into their open week.

Le’Veon Bell ran for 204 yards and a touchdown, and William Gay returned an interception 28 yards for a touchdown. Shaun Suisham kicked two field goals.

“I think we’re only going to get stronger,” Bell said. “We’ve obviously still got to get better, work as a team. But we’re going to enjoy the week off. It’s well deserved, well needed. We’re going to enjoy it and get back to work when we need to.”

Roethlisberger had never beaten the Titans at LP Field. With Bell running through and over the Titans, the Steelers took the pressure off the quarterback by holding the ball for 39:49 and had a 386 to 312 advantage in yards.

“He got rolling, and we couldn’t make a play and that’s disappointing,” Coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “That’s the way it went. We tried a lot of different things to try to stop their run game.”

The Titans blew a 24-13 lead in their fourth consecutive loss. They sacked Roethlisberger five times and intercepted a pass in the end zone. Zach Mettenberger threw for 263 yards and two touchdown passes, and fellow rookie Bishop Sankey ran for a touchdown.

But Tennessee’s offense fizzled in the fourth quarter. When the Steelers got the ball back with 6:58 left, they didn’t give it back.

“We feel very close,” Mettenberger said. “We’re not doing enough to win football games. That’s the bottom line and the most important thing. But rookie running back, rookie left tackle, rookie quarterback, rookie middle linebacker. We’re doing a lot of good things.”

Mettenberger and the Titans erased a 10-0 deficit with a flurry.

Suisham had a 49-yard field goal to open the scoring, and Gay picked off a pass by Mettenberger on the Titans’ first offensive play and returned it for a touchdown.

Roethlisberger had only five passes intercepted times this season, but the Titans sacked him three times in the second quarter and Jason McCourty picked off a pass intended for Brown in the end zone with 44 seconds left in the first half.

Mettenberger threw to Nate Washington, who beat Gay with a stutter-step on his way to a career-best 80-yard touchdown reception.

Mettenberger threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Chase Coffman in the third quarter, capping an 11-play drive for a 24-13 lead.

The Steelers responded with Bell’s five-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter, and Roethlisberger’s touchdown pass to Brown was enough for the victory. Brown had nine receptions for 91 yards.

It was the coldest game at LP Field, with the temperature at kickoff at 25 degrees.