Is the "Steel Curtain" back?
While the Steelers' offense never found the end zone Sunday, Pittsburgh defenders limited the Chiefs to 227 yards of total offense in a 18-16 victory at Arrowhead Stadium.
The victory sends the Steelers to next Sunday's AFC championship game at New England.
Doing all of the scoring for the Steelers was kicker Chris Boswell, who set an NFL single-game playoff record with six field goals.
"It sounds even better coming off of a win," Boswell told NBC Sports. "Record or no record, as long as we got the win, that's all that matters to me."
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Boswell isn't quite ready to include himself among Pittsburgh's great "Killer Bs" with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, running back Le'Veon Bell and wide receiver Antonio Brown.
"I don't even think I belong in that picture," he quipped.
The Chiefs rallied late with a chance to tie, getting within two points on Spencer Ware's 1-yard run with 2:43 remaining. The Chiefs thought they had tied it up on a two-point conversion pass to tight end Demetrius Harris, but tackle Eric Fisher was called for holding to negate the play.
Alex Smith's pass from the 12-yard line on the next two-point try was incomplete.
The Steelers just needed to pick up a first down on the ensuing series to be able to run out the clock and did so when Ben Roethlisberger completed a 7-yard pass to Antonio Brown on a third-and-3 with 1:51 remaining.
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While the Steelers offense didn't find the end zone, it's not like the unit was stagnant. Running back Le'Veon Bell broke his own Steelers postseason rushing record with 170 yards, eclipsing the 167 yards he had last week against the Dolphins.
"Those guys up front did a great job," Bell told NBC Sports. "I've got to give a lot of credit to the offensive line."
While Bell racked up the yards, the Chiefs couldn't get anything going on the ground. The Steelers held Kansas City to 61 rushing yards, which played into Pittsburgh's game plan of keeping the Chiefs one-dimensional. Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith finished 20 of 34 for 172 yards with a touchdown and interception.
"We wanted to come in, first and foremost, stop the run," said linebacker James Harrison, who had six tackles, including three for loss, and a sack.
The Chiefs had earlier opportunities, but mistakes hurt them. None was more costly than Travis Kelce's personal foul that killed a promising drive. Instead of being in place for a possible touchdown while trailing 15-7 late in the third quarter, Kelce's late shove of Ross Cockrell led to Kansas City settling for a Cairo Santos field goal.
GET. OUT. pic.twitter.com/WSfjm3dJuv
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) January 16, 2017
As well as the Steelers defense played against Smith and Co., it will need to be even better next week against the Patriots. The Steelers also can't afford to settle for field goals, like they did at Arrowhead. But if Bell can keep running it like he has been, the Steelers might be able to keep the Patriots offense on the sideline.
They say defense wins championships and the Steelers played championship defense on Sunday as the "Steel Curtain" fell on Kansas City.