Aaron Rodgers has spent much of this season looking very much like a 42-year-old on the brink of retirement. That includes the first half of Sunday night's do-or-die game against the Ravens, when the stagnant Steelers offense managed just three points. But Rodgers was the catalyst for Pittsburgh in the second half, leading three touchdown drives of at least 60 yards as the Steelers prevailed in a wild one to claim the AFC North.
It wasn't exactly vintage Rodgers. He did throw for a season-high 294 yards, but he did so on 31-for-47 passing. That's the third-most pass attempts in his career in a game in which he failed to exceed 300 yards passing. The fact that he was able to move the ball as effectively as he did is a miracle, though, considering the diminished group of pass-catchers Rodgers had to work with.
D.K. Metcalf has been by far Rodgers's favorite receiver this season (850 receiving yards, more than double what any other Pittsburgh player had entering Sunday's game), but was serving the second of a two-game suspension resulting from an altercation with a fan in Detroit. Without Metcalf, the Steelers leaned heavily on their running backs in the passing game. Kenneth Gainwell led the way with eight catches for 64 yards, and Jaylen Warren caught five passes for 33 yards. Nine different Pittsburgh players caught a pass.
After a first half in which the Steelers looked stuck in the mud, Rodgers made several fantastic throws in the second half to get his team back in the game. Perhaps the best was a pinpoint pass to receiver Adam Thielen on Pittsburgh's opening drive of the second half that moved the Steelers into the red zone and eventually led to their first touchdown of the game.
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