Steelers stave off Chiefs, will face Patriots in AFC Championship Game

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Hope you’re a fan of field goals.

The Pittsburgh Steelers converted half a dozen to score all their points and book their trip to the AFC Championship Game in an 18-16 victory Sunday night against the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Steelers now travel to Foxborough, Mass., to face the conference’s No. 1 seed Sunday in the New England Patriots. The Patriots beat the Steelers 27-16 in Week 7, but quarterback Ben Roethlisberger missed the game as he recovered from surgery on his torn meniscus.

Steelers place kicker Chris Boswell drilled all six of his field goal attempts (22, 38, 26, 45, 43, 43), setting an NFL record for most all time in a single postseason game.

If there’s one thing that prevented the Steelers from blowing this game wide open in the first half, it was their lack of execution inside the red zone.

In the first two quarters, Pittsburgh failed to convert on all three of its trips inside the 20. Instead, it settled for field goal after field goal.

After Kansas City scored a touchdown on its opening series, however, the next three drives spanned only 11 plays for 29 yards. The result? Two punts and an interception. Only 4:24 of game time ticked off the clock.

Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell gained 170 yards on 30 attempts. Roethlisberger completed 20 of his 31 passes for 224 yards. He did not throw a touchdown, but tossed an interception to Chiefs safety Eric Berry.

The Steelers outgained the Chiefs in the first half by a margin of 275-106. They led by only five points at the half.

The Chiefs scored a touchdown late in the fourth quarter on a 1-yard Spencer Ware rush, but a holding call erased a two-point conversion and the ensuing attempt fell incomplete.

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