CLEVELAND — Old streaks die hard.
Despite a thrilling rally late in the fourth quarter, the Steelers' frustrating Thursday struggles — and miserable trips to Cleveland — continued in 2026 with a 27-24 loss to the Browns at Huntington Bank Field.
Andre Szmyt kicked a 56-yard field goal with 10 seconds left to win it for the Browns. The Steelers defense bent too much as Deshaun Watson completed 4 passes for 45 yards to put Szmyt in range.
Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers engineered an 8-play, 80-yard touchdown drive capped by a 3-yard toss to Pat Freiermuth. Then Rodgers scored on a true quarterback sneak for the 2-point conversion to tie it at 24 with 1:42 left.
On his final desperation heave, Rodgers was picked off by Grant Delpit looking for Roman Wilson deep downfield. That's now four consecutive defeats on Thursdays for the Steelers (2-2) and five straight in this building. The Browns (3-1) have won their past three games and sit in first place in the AFC North.
But it's a long season and it's never easy to win on the road in this division. The Steelers actually got off to a good start in that mission.
They showed up ready for a physical confrontation with a familiar foe. Look no further than a tone-setting 17-play touchdown drive on their opening possession, capped by a touchdown flip forward from Rodgers to Wilson, who came in motion and scored from 12 yards out.
While that ate up 9:48 of clock, it turned out that getting to the second quarter wasn't a good thing for the Steelers. That's where everything went wrong.
The Browns outscored the Steelers, 21-3, in the final 12:15 of the first half, including back-to-back-to-back touchdown drives before Chris Boswell hit a 31-yard field goal with 8 seconds to go until the break. Jaleel McLaughlin weaved through Steelers defenders for a 28-yard touchdown run that got the Browns on the board, followed by a couple of 2-yard touchdowns, one on a rush by Quinshon Judkins and the other on a pass from Watson to Harold Fannin Jr.
Boswell's field goal made it 21-10 at halftime, with the Steelers getting the ball first on the ensuing kickoff. But all they could muster was repeat three-and-outs until the clock struck Watt.
T.J. Watt stripped Watson on a read-option play and recovered the fumble himself at the 50. With a new set of downs at midfield, the Steelers couldn't move the ball and instead had to settle for Cameron Johnston's fourth punt of the night.
Another Steelers pass-rusher came up huge, though, when Jack Sawyer tipped a Watson pass early in the fourth quarter. Rookie safety Robert Spears-Jennings came up with his first career interception, and a savvy challenge by McCarthy paid off. After Daylen Everette was flagged for pass interference, McCarthy threw the red flag for officials to review whether Sawyer got a finger on the ball. He did, which negated the penalty, and the ruling was overturned.
The Steelers turned that takeaway into points, on a drive highlighted by a 43-yard hook-up from Rodgers to a diving DK Metcalf. Rodgers threw another dime while on the move to Darnell Washington, who snagged it in the end zone for a 21-yard touchdown catch that made it 21-16 with 10:10 remaining. The Steelers went for 2 to cut it to a one-score game, but could not convert.
Szmyt hit a 44-yard field goal on the Browns' next possession to push it back to 24-16 with 6:37 to go. That set the stage for Rodgers and Metcalf to get in a rhythm.
Rodgers finished with 299 yards on 22-of-40 passing with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He doled out completions to eight different receivers but was sacked five times by five different Browns.
Metcalf had a game-high 115 receiving yards on five catches. Jaylen Warren led all rushers with 93 yards rushing on 17 carries while adding 33 yards on three receptions.
Jaquan Brisker, Cameron Heyward, Spears-Jennings and Payton Wilson led the Steelers with 7 tackles apiece while Watt filled up nearly every column on the stat sheet. Watt had 4 tackles, 1 sack, 2 quarterback hits, 2 tackles for loss, 1 pass defended, 1 forced fumble and 1 fumble recovery.
