Packers vs. Steelers 2017 live results: Highlights from ‘Sunday Night Football’

A matchup that looked great before the season but not so hot heading into Sunday turned out to be a great contest. The Pittsburgh Steelers held off a surprising challenge from the Green Bay Packers, winning their sixth straight game thanks to a game-winning drive in the final minute.

Chris Boswell kicked a 53-yard field goal at the gun to beat the Packers, tying a Heinz Field record for longest field goal length.

It ended a drive strengthened by this amazing 23-yard catch on the sideline and brilliant footwork by Antonio Brown, who caught 10 passes for 169 yards on the night.

Packers 28, Steelers 28: Green Bay got the ball with 80 seconds remaining in regulation, but any attempt at a tying drive was cut short with this sack by J.T. Watt, whose helmet-to-helmet hit on Brett Hundley was not penalized.

Packers 28, Steelers 28: Jamaal Williams punched home the tying touchdown from 4 yards out with 2:02 remaining, but Green Bay got things done mostly through the air. Brett Hundley was 7-for-8 with 72 yards passing on the drive, including this short pass to Jordy Nelson, whose stretch picked up one of six first downs on the drive for the Packers.

Steelers 28, Packers 21: Antonio Brown is up to 119 receiving yards to night, and two more touchdowns. His latest was a 33-yard strike.

Also notable on the drive was Le’Veon Bell catching two passes for 26 yards -- he has 10 catches on the night -- and running for eight more.

Steelers 21, Packers 21: One play after Pittsburgh committed its first penalty of the night -- pass interference in the end zone on cornerback Davon House -- the Steelers tied things up with a 1-yard fade to the back of the end zone to Antonio Brown, his fourth touchdown catch in the last two games.

The Steelers started that drive with great field position thanks to Mike McCarthy opting to try a 57-yard field goal in a stadium notoriously tough on kickers. The attempt was unsuccessful.

Packers 21, Steelers 14: A pick by linebacker Blake Martinez gave Ben Roethlisberger two interceptions on Sunday, his second multi-interception game of the year and first since throwing five against Jacksonville on Oct. 8. Green Bay wasn’t able to take advantage however, with Mason Crosby missing a 57-yard field goal wide left.

Packers 21, Steelers 14: Entering Sunday night, Packers quarterback Brett Hundley in his six games and four starts, had two touchdowns in 158 pass attempts. Against Pittsburgh in this game, he has three touchdowns in 12 throws, the latest this deep ball to Davante Adams for 76 yards and a seven-point lead for Green Bay:

Packers 14, Steelers 14: A big stop for the Green Bay defense gave the Packers the ball back with just over a minute left. But they were content going to the half all tied up. To be honest, this game has been a lot more competitive than we thought it would be.

Packers 14, Steelers 14: It wouldn’t be a game if the Packers didn’t have to deal with an injury to their secondary:

Packers 14, Steelers 14: When in doubt, throw it to Antonio Brown, who picked up 39 yards on a third-down pass. Two plays later, Ben Roethlisberger hit Martavis Bryant for the touchdown, Bryant’s first score since Week 2.

The two-point conversion — to Brown — tied this one up quickly.

Packers 14, Steelers 6: It’s still early, but fans at Heinz Field are getting a little restless:

Packers 14, Steelers 6: Another long touchdown for the Packers. This time, Jamaal Williams took a screen pass from Brett Hundley on third-and-9 all the way to the house for a 54-yard score:

Great start for Green Bay so far on the road.

Packers 7, Steelers 6: Green Bay gets the ball back. If not for Eli Rogers barely getting a hand on Damarious Randall, that’s a pick-six:

Packers 7, Steelers 6: Cornerback Artie Burns might want to burn the tape of this drive. First he was called for hands to the face, a 5-yard penalty that turned a would-be fourth down into a first down for the Packers.

Then, he left Randall Cobb wiiiiiiide open for an easy touchdown:

And we then a heated moment turned into a silly one. Face masks stuck together!

Steelers 6, Packers 0: The Steelers marched right down the field on the first drive of the game, with Ben Roethlisberger hitting six different receivers. They got tripped up a bit in the red zone — literally in Martavis Bryant’s case on this third-and-goal.

But Pittsburgh decided to go for it on fourth down and got the touchdown, with this shovel pass to Xavier Grimble (who the heck is Xavier Grimble?):

Chris Boswell missed the XP, but we were too busy googling “Xavier Grimble” to see it happen.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are rolling, winning their last five games to run away with the AFC North lead. They’ll look to keep the momentum against the Green Bay Packers, who are headed in the opposite direction as their playoff hopes fade. These teams collide on Sunday night at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC (live streams at NBC Sports and Fubo TV).

The Steelers are 9-2 and coming off a dominant Week 11 performance against the Tennessee Titans. The offense was slow to start the game, but Ben Roethlisberger turned on the jets after halftime, tossing three second-half touchdowns in a 40-17 blowout win.

Three of Roethlisberger’s four touchdowns went to Anotnio Brown, who entered Week 12 leading the league with 1,026 receiving yards. Brown is red-hot once again, and Le’Veon is still producing despite a slow run recently (he hasn’t reached 100 rushing yards since Week 7). Combine the stars on offense with a dominant defense, and the Steelers are set up well for a deep playoff run — if they can get out of their own way, of course.

Things were going well for the Packers, who started off 4-1 while Aaron Rodgers did his his thing. Unfortunately, their season careened off the rails when Rodgers broke his collarbone, possibly putting him out for the rest of the year. Green Bay has since gone 1-4, with Brett Hundley looking like he’s not ready for the spotlight.

Things hit a new low last week, when the Packers were shut out at home by the Baltimore Ravens. That loss drops them to 5-5 and further dims their hopes of stealing a Wild Card spot. If Hundley doesn’t turn things around in a hurry, the Packers could be staring at their first losing season since 2008.

For all the troubles this team has managed to walk around this year—from slow starts to Instagram/Twitter meltdowns—to career lows in play, then chip-in a healthy dose of shade being thrown Todd Haley’s way, and you’ve got your 3-ring circus to be caught up in.

But in my eyes, that ship has sailed. This team has already taken what I think is its hardest punch. The Steelers have seen the worst. Barring some catastrophic injuries to the usual suspects, the dark waters traveled have built character and made this team step up its game like we haven’t seen since the 2008 season.

You know, the last year this team won a Lombardi Trophy.

I’m not going to discount the intangibles of players feeling “more comfortable” running no-huddle or plays that they prefer—or the fact that maybe having success in no-huddle plays leads to confidence. That confidence could then manifest itself in executing plays run from the huddle. Ben’s words to his teammates, and their performance in the second half tells me, however, that execution of the plays is most important, regardless of how the play is called.

In 2013, Green Bay averaged a 47% conversion rate on third downs with a healthy Aaron Rodgers and totaled 47% and 53% rates in the two games the team won without him.

This season, the Packers have failed to reach the 47% benchmark in the Rodgers-less era but pulled out a win against the Bears with a close 43% mark. That rate was far and away the highest percentage of any game so far, as Green Bay has consistently converted at a rate of 36% or less. In today’s NFL, those marks over a five-game stretch just won’t cut it. The Packers continue to be unable to sustain drives, even in third-and-short situations.

I’m not going to mince words here, or try to sugarcoat things. Brett Hundley has played poorly, and it’s due in large part to a lack of decisiveness. Time and time again he will hesitate on a throw, resulting in a throwaway, a scramble for minimal yardage, or a sack.