2020 Steelers Season Recall: Rescheduled Titans game features clash of two unbeaten teams
Steel City Underground presents our 2020 Steelers Recall: a look back at Pittsburgh Steelers games and storylines from last season.
Heading into Week 7 of the 2020 regular season, if there were ever taglines attached to football games, the Pittsburgh Steelers matching up against the Tennessee Titans would’ve read as follows:
The Moment You’ve All Been Waiting For
The wait, as two unbeaten, 5-0 teams were reading to face each other, came from COVID-19 protocols which saw this game, which was originally scheduled for Week 4, now being played three weeks later, as multiple positive cases from the Titans organized saw the league make its first – and practically only – big schedule switch of the season.
The Steelers were originally slated to face the Baltimore Ravens in Week 7, and then take their bye week in Week 8. Instead, the Ravens had their course adjusted as well, with the NFL sliding the Titans into the open slot for a makeup game with Pittsburgh.
You may as well of thought that the Steelers took offense to having the game moved, as well as playing against another unbeaten, as they jumped out to an early 14-0 nothing lead.
Pittsburgh would score on five of its six first possessions, with the lone drive without points came from Ben Roethlisberger attempting a long shot for Diontae Johnson at the end of the half, with 14 seconds remaining – the pass was intercepted.
Johnson was a target early and often in this game, slicing through the Titans secondary for two first-half touchdown receptions – the first an 11-yard strike from Big Ben. The Steelers would enter halftime up 24-7, and then add an additional field goal to go up 27-7.
It would be their last points scored during the game as the Titans started to inch their way back into the contest.
Following a first half that saw the Steelers possess the football for nearly 20 total minutes, Tennessee would only punt twice in the second half, scoring two touchdowns and a field goal, while the Steelers offense began to sputter with two punts and two Ben Roethlisberger interceptions.
The deciding play came near the end as the Titans took the last Ben Roethlisberger pick and parlayed their possession into a potential game-tying situation. Receiving the ball on their own twenty-yard-line with 2:35 in the fourth quarter, Ryan Tannehill orchestrated a 12-play, 67-yard drive which setup kicker Stephen Gostkowski with the 45-yard three-point attempt: which missed.
The Titans kicker choked again. Gostkowski had missed six field goals and two extra point attempts through his first five games. This miss sealed the deal, as Ben Roethlisberger entered the field and took a knee to kill the remaining time left on the clock.
The Steelers would improve to 6-0 on the season, eyeing a big matchup with their AFC North rivals, the Baltimore Ravens next week.
