Steelers fall to Brady, Patriots in AFC title game

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The Steelers are running out of time to beat Tom Brady in an AFC championship game.

The 39-year-old quarterback never has lost to the Steelers at Gillette Stadium, and it was no contest Sunday night as Brady ensured the streak would live for another year. Brady threw three touchdown passes and led the New England Patriots to a 36-17 win to end the Steelers' season and secure a berth in Super Bowl LI.

The Patriots, with four Super Bowl titles, will try to inch closer to the Steelers' record of six Lombardi trophies when they play the Atlanta Falcons on Feb. 5 at NRG Stadium in Houston.

Retirement might be the only way for the Steelers to solve Brady, who is 5-0 all time, including postseason, against the Steelers on his home turf. In this one, he carved up the Steelers defense for a Patriots postseason-record 384 passing yards. Chris Hogan, the former Penn State lacrosse player, had nine catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns.

The 36 points was the most given up by the Steelers this season.

"We had to play perfect to beat them," Steelers' Pro Bowl guard David DeCastro said, "and we were far from that."

The Steelers played much of the game without record-setting running back Le'Veon Bell, who injured his groin on the second offensive play. He left in the first quarter, then returned for a play in the second before shutting it down.

"That hurt a lot," DeCastro said.

The loss was the third all-time against the Patriots in an AFC championship game, and it snapped a nine-game winning streak that began in November when the Steelers were 4-5.

It also came on the 10-year anniversary of Mike Tomlin's hiring as coach. Tomlin is 2-1 in AFC championship game appearances.

"Not a lot went our way," Tomlin said. "Not only in terms of the final score, but just how the game was played. … We didn't get the things done that we wanted to get done, really, on offense, defense and special teams in a consistent manner for it to be competitive and close."

The day began with a fire alarm being pulled at the Steelers hotel and ended with Brady smoking a defense that allowed 28 total points in playoff wins over Miami and Kansas City. Brady completed 32 of 42 attempts. Julian Edelman added eight catches for 118 yards and a touchdown.

"There's a reason he's one of the best to ever play the game," Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said about Brady. "That's why we have respect for him. That's why we know coming into this environment what we were up against. That's why we needed to play a near-flawless game — and we didn't."

Brady had six completions of at least 20 yards, five of them going to Hogan. The Patriots also converted 11 of 17 chances on third down.

"Brady was just doing what Brady does, getting the ball to his guys and breaking down coverages," said rookie cornerback Artie Burns, who missed a tackle on a 41-yard catch-and-run by Edelman. "We ran basically some of the same things that we ran all year. We just didn't execute. That's all it came down to."

For the third consecutive season, the Steelers lost a playoff game when they didn't have their team MVP on the field for much of the game.

Bell set team postseason rushing records with 167 and 170 yards in playoff wins over Miami and Kansas City.

He finished with 20 yards on six attempts.

Bell said the injury has been nagging him for a "few weeks" but didn't tell anyone about it until Sunday.

"Last week, I felt normal. Today, it was a tackle. I'm not even sure what happened," he said.

Bell yielded to backup DeAngelo Williams for good after gaining two yards on a draw play midway through the second quarter.

"The O-line made a nice seam," he said. "On that play, I knew I couldn't go. I couldn't be myself. I saw the seam but couldn't hit it. I could run, but I couldn't hit it. It was like I was running at 50 percent out there."

Williams carried 14 times for 34 yards and a 5-yard touchdown. Roethlisberger completed 31 of 47 passes for 314 yards, one touchdown and one interception. All-Pro receiver Antonio Brown was a nonfactor, finishing with seven catches for 77 yards.

The Steelers were hurt by dropped passes from Cobi Hamilton in the end zone and Sammie Coates in single coverage on a deep pass from Roethlisberger in the first half.

In the first half, Brady threw two touchdown passes to Hogan, and the Patriots took a 17-9 lead into the locker room.

Hogan's second TD catch came on a 34-yard flea-flicker shortly after the Steelers had pulled within 10-6 on Williams' 5-yard run.

"It's a good play, we hadn't seen it," safety Mike Mitchell said about the flea-flicker.

The Steelers trailed 17-9 at halftime after they had to settle for Chris Boswell's 23-yard field goal with 1:39 before intermission. The Steelers had first and goal at the 1, but two runs by Williams lost a combined four yards, and Roethlisberger threw wide of Eli Rogers on third down.

Stephen Gostkowski's 47-yard field goal with 9:59 left in the third quarter gave the Patriots a 20-9 lead.

LeGarrette Blount's 1-yard run with 2:44 left in the third pushed the advantage to 27-9.

Hogan had a 39-yard reception that was followed by Blount bulling 18 yards to the Steelers 1. Blount pushed across the goal line on the next play.

The bottom dropped out for the Steelers on the next possession. Rogers caught a first-down pass but had the ball stripped, and the Patriots recovered at the Steelers 28.

Four plays later, Brady connected with Edelman on a 10-yard touchdown pass for a 33-9 lead with 1:35 left in the third.

The Patriots scored 19 consecutive points to start the second half.

"They did a better job of executing — period. Point blank, period," Steelers linebacker James Harrison said. "They tempo-ed us, they did what they had to do. They did a better job of executing their game plan than we did of trying to stop theirs.

"It wasn't like they muscled us around, threw us around. They out-executed us."

An apparent 2-yard touchdown pass to Hamilton early in the fourth quarter was negated when officials said he stepped out of bounds before returning to catch the ball. Another incompletion to Hamilton turned the ball over to the Patriots with 13:06 left.

Gostkowski kicked his third field goal, a 26-yarder, with 6:24 to play, for a 36-9 lead.

Roethlisberger threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Hamilton with 3:36 left. It was Roethlisberger's first touchdown pass since the first quarter of the Steelers' wild-card win over Miami. Williams caught the 2-point conversion pass.

Now, the Steelers will have an entire offseason to think about the missed opportunity that will keep them home for the Super Bowl.

"It's real tough," tackle Marcus Gilbert said. "We worked our whole life for this. When I was a kid, I dreamed of this moment. You can taste it, it's so close and you don't do enough to get the job done is disappointing."

Joe Rutter is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at jrutter@tribweb.com or via Twitter @tribjoerutter.