There was a point Sunday night when the Pittsburgh Steelers offense went from spectacular to sputtering with little warning. Their eventual thrilling 39-38 win over the Baltimore Ravens to clinch a second straight AFC North title was hard to imagine.
In fact, for a brief moment in the third quarter, championship contention was hard to imagine, too. The Steelers temporarily melted and let their early two-touchdown lead fade away. They came out of halftime flat against a stifling Ravens defense that produced two straight three-and-outs in the third quarter alone, a quarter when the Steelers were outscored 17-0.