Steelers at Chargers score: Los Angeles wins shootout behind Austin Ekeler’s four touchdowns

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In a crazy, back and forth fourth quarter, Justin Herbert and the Chargers outlasted Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers 41-37. After Herbert watched their 17-point lead fade, he responded by hitting Mike Williams 2-17 for the game-winning 53-yard touchdown pass. Two sacks on Roethlisberger on Pittsburgh’s last trip sealed the Chargers’ sixth win of the season.

The Chargers appeared to be on their way to an easy win after taking a 27:10 lead by 3:44 minutes in the third quarter. The Steelers responded with a franchise record of 27 points in the fourth quarter, including two touchdown passes from Roethlisberger. The second touchdown pass, set up by Cam Heyward’s tipped pass intercepted by Cam Sutton, was 4:23 left. The Steelers’ series was initiated by Miles Killebrew’s blocked punt early in the fourth quarter, Pittsburgh 27-13 back.

After Najee Harris turned the blocked put into a one-yard touchdown run, the Chargers took the lead 34:20 after Austin Ekeler scored his fourth touchdown of the evening. Pittsburgh countered with consecutive touchdown passes from Roethlisberger, who came back into action after missing the game last week after testing positive for COVID-19. The Steelers then took their first lead since the first quarter on Chris Boswell’s 45-yard field goal after Pittsburgh’s defense forced a turnover at Downs. But three games after Boswell’s field goal, Herbert found a wide open Williams to win the game.

In a rapid first half, the Chargers took the lead with 17:10. Ekeler scored both Chargers touchdowns in the first half while helping Los Angeles take them 14-3. The Steelers countered with two scoring drives, including Roethlisberger’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Diontae Johnson in Pittsburgh’s third possession. The Chargers offense ended the first half with a 30-yard field goal from Dustin Hopkins.

After Boswell gave the Steelers an early 3-0 lead, Ekeler’s 2-yard touchdown run ended the Chargers’ 12-play, 73-yard scoring drive. Ekeler’s 10-yard touchdown pass on the Chargers’ second drive extended their lead to 14-3. The 12-game, 98-yard drive came after Durwin James and Joe Gaziano combined to cram Freiermuth into fourth place and on goal. Pittsburgh responded with an 84-yard seven-game drive, punctuated by Johnson’s fourth touchdown of the season.

Here is a full breakdown of what happened at the SoFi Stadium.

Why the chargers won

Los Angeles received a great game from each of their main attacking playmakers. Herbert became the first player in NFL history to throw 382 yards and run 90 yards. His 36-yard carry set up Ekeler’s fourth touchdown of the game.

Ekeler, who caught and ran two touchdowns at a time, amassed 115 all-purpose yards with just 17 taps. Keenan Allen caught nine passes for 112 yards while Williams caught five passes for 97 yards, which included the game-winning touchdown.

They weren’t great, but the Chargers defense came with two key stops in the red zone in the first half, including James and Gaziano’s fourth down stop against Pat Freiermuth. They also enforced a field goal after Joe Schobert’s fourth down-stuff from Ekeler with 3:48 left and a tied result of 34. Joey Bosa had one of the Chargers’ two sacks on Pittsburgh’s last offensive drive, the one with an incomplete pass to fourth Place ended.

Why the Steelers lost

Pittsburgh’s defense could not overcome the absences of the starters TJ Watt, Joe Haden and Minkah Fitzpatrick. The unit allowed Chargers to score for each of their first five possessions. The absence of Haden and Fitzpatrick was particularly noticeable in Herbert’s game-winning touchdown pass to Williams, which was wide open on the near sideline. The session had no answer for Herbert, who played almost as much with his legs as he did with his arm.

Scoring 30 for the first time this season on Sunday, the Steelers dropped a few points after settling for field goals on two of their drives within the Chargers’ 20-yard line. They couldn’t get much going on site either, with Harris running for 39 of Pittsburgh’s 55 yards before leaving the game in the middle of the fourth quarter. Harris left the game after being hit in the head after receiving a reception.

Pittsburgh received a solid game from Roethlisberger, who had nine touchdowns and no interceptions in their last five games. Johnson caught seven passes for 101 yards while Chase Claypool caught five passes for 93 yards.

Turning point

The fans at home were likely ready to end the night after the Chargers expanded their lead to 27-10 towards the end of the third quarter. But Killebrew’s blocked punt ignited a 27-point quarter quarter for the Steelers, who were a defensive stop away from winning their first game in franchise history after falling more than 17 points in the fourth quarter.

Game of the game

Pittsburgh led for less than a minute before Herbert Williams scored to win the game. Herbert immediately realized that Sutton was sitting on the route that allowed Williams to be wide open in the field. Williams then overtook rookie Tre Norwood (who started instead of Fitzpatrick) right into the end zone.

Quotable

“He can do everything. He makes our offensive so much better and he opens everything. To have him out of the back room, you know that something good is going to happen. Whenever he’s on the field, you’re glad he’s in yours Team is. ” – Herbert, who talks about disgust with NBC Sports after the game.

“We had a call, I’m not going into the details of the call and I’m just not taking the call. At a critical point in the game we all need to be on the same page and not have any misunderstandings. ” It just didn’t come through. “- Sutton on Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Brian Batko about Williams’ winning touchdown.

What’s next

The Steelers will travel to South Ohio to take on the Bengals, who beat the Steelers 24:10 in Week 3. Los Angeles will travel to Denver to play their division rivals against the Broncos in the first of two games this season.

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