Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth after calling an unbelievable SNF game between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers. Photo Credit: NBC Photo Credit: NBC
By Matt Clapp on

The Pittsburgh Steelers won the AFC North division title with a mind-blowing victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday Night Football to complete the NFL regular season.

NBC’s Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth couldn’t believe what they were watching down the stretch of the fourth quarter, and it was apparent in the excitement and stunned reactions with their commentary on the SNF broadcast.

After what had been a pretty ordinary, gritty Ravens-Steelers game, things went haywire in the final nine minutes.

Trailing 13-10, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson did an incredible job of avoiding pressure from the Pittsburgh pass rush before finding Zay Flowers for a 50-yard touchdown pass.

Tirico: “JACKSON GOT AWAY, NOW RELOADS, AND THROWS TO FLOWERS DOWNFIELD! HE’S GOT IT FOR A TOUCHDOWN! THEY HAD JACKSON, TWO STEELERS! HE ESCAPED AND FOUND FLOWERS, AND THE RAVENS TAKE THE LEAD!”

Collinsworth: “This is unbelievable! You are going to see a meeting at the quarterback, and somehow Lamar splits ’em! I’ve never seen anything quite like that! And that would have been amazing enough, until he started directing traffic, and telling Flowers ‘Go deep! Go deep! Go deep!’ He had to get his hand back on the ball, and then just unleash! Two spectacular plays by Lamar Jackson!”

After the Steelers got the lead back on a Kenneth Gainwell touchdown run, Jackson and Flowers connected again for a big-play touchdown to give Baltimore a 24-20 lead with 2:20 remaining. Collinsworth saw it coming before Jackson even threw the ball.

Collinsworth: “THEY DID IT AGAIN! THEY DID IT AGAIN!”

Tirico: “Jackson, SHOT DOWNFIELD! ZAY FLOWERS, INSIDE THE 20! HE’S GOING TO GO!… And the Ravens get the Steelers the same way, for the second time in this quarter! UNBELIEVABLE! ZAY FLOWERS BEHIND THE DEFENSE AGAIN!”

But Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers answered with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Calvin Austin III to make it a 26-24 Pittsburgh lead with 55 seconds left.

However, reliable kicker Chris Boswell missed the extra-point try. Tirico was shocked and proceeded to offer factoids on how unexpected that miss was.

Tirico: “Rodgers, protected, THROWS TO AUSTIN FOR THE TOUCHDOWN!… The extra point from Boswell, twisting, NO GOOD! NO GOOD! HE MISSED THE EXTRA POINT! HE HAD NOT MISSED ONE ALL YEAR! IT’S THE SECOND MISSED EXTRA POINT IN HIS LAST FOUR YEARS! AT AN UNBELIEVABLE TIME TO DO THAT!… That’s just a crushing miss. He’d only missed 15 in his career. He had made 85 in a row, 89 including the postseason. His last miss of an extra point was December 16 of 2023.

It appeared that the Ravens would make Boswell and the Steelers pay for the miss. On fourth-and-seven, Jackson connected with tight end Isaiah Likely for a 26-yard pass to the Pittsburgh 24-yard line with 12 seconds remaining.

Tirico: “IT’S FOURTH-AND-SEVEN! SEASON ON THE LINE! JACKSON, LOFTING IT UP, AND IT IS… CAUGHT!

Collinsworth: “OOOH!”

Tirico: “HELD ONTO BY ISAIAH LIKELY AT THE 22-YARD LINE! HE’S BEEN IN THE MIDDLE OF SO MANY BIG MOMENTS! AND HE COMES UP WITH THE CATCH! TIMEOUT BALTIMORE! 12 SECONDS LEFT! IN FIELD GOAL POSITION! WOOOW!”

Collinsworth: “Absolute insanity!… My goodness gracious! Lamar Jackson. There have been questions this past week about his own toughness. Does he really want to be here? Could he have played last week? We’ve heard it all! Right? And Lamar Jackson has delivered time after time! And Aaron Rodgers cannot believe that what he’s done in this fourth quarter may not be enough.”

It turned out that it was enough for Rodgers and the Steelers. After Jackson took a knee to run the clock down to two seconds, Baltimore rookie kicker Tyler Loop missed a 44-yard field goal attempt wide right, giving Pittsburgh a division title.

Tirico did an excellent job setting up the moment before reacting in disbelief to the miss.

Tirico: “(John) Harbaugh is telling Likely how special that play was to set up this moment for the rookie out of Arizona. The Ravens, of course, had Justin Tucker for so long. The most accurate kicker in the history of the league. Rodgers can’t believe what he has just witnessed in what might be the end for him. But [the Ravens] went around the country and spoke to a lot of the kickers who were coming out, and they decided Tyler Loop was made of the right stuff for moments like this.

He now has the chance to win the division for the Ravens! The final play of the regular season, for the final spot in the playoffs! Tyler Loop from 44! Snap good, hold good, THE KICK IS NO GOOD! IT IS WIDE RIGHT! AND THE STEELERS ARE THE CHAMPIONS OF THE NORTH!”

Some of Collinsworth’s thoughts were then drowned out by the seismic crowd noise in Pittsburgh.

“Season-ending heartbreak for the Ravens, again,” Tirico continued. “And for the first time since 2020, the Pittsburgh Steelers rule the North in the AFC.”

“There is no way, Mike,” Collinsworth said. “The practice, the pressure of a game-winning free throw, or a game-winning kick, or a game-winning putt. And the rookie succumbed that time.”

“The Ravens still in disbelief,” Tirico added.

During the NBC postgame show, Tirico and Collinsworth still couldn’t believe what they had just witnessed, with Tirico calling it “something that was even too impossible to sit down and write, if you wanted to write the script for this one.”

“Like all great movies, it catches you off guard,” Collinsworth said.

“But it’s about as much fun as I’ve had watching a football game in a long time,” Collinsworth added.

Tirico and Collinsworth will have the NBC call for an AFC playoff game between the Los Angeles Chargers and the New England Patriots during NFL Wild Card Weekend on Sunday night.

About Matt Clapp

Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.

He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.

View all posts by Matt Clapp