The Steelers rushed for 100 yards on 20 carries in the opening two quarters.
The Packers got a return of 49 yards to the Pittsburgh 44 to open the second half, but had to settle for a 31-yard Anders Carlson field goal to cut the deficit to 17-16 as the Steelers tightened up in the red zone.
The Steelers failed to pick up a first down on their next possession and despite an excellent punt from Pressley Harvin III that flipped the field, the Packers drove from their own 22 to the Pittsburgh 15 before stalling. They settled for another Carlson field goal and a 19-17 lead – their first of the game – with 3:04 remaining in the third quarter.
But the Steelers quickly regained the lead at 20-19 with a 49-yard field goal by Boswell that was set up by a 34-yard kickoff return by Anthony McFarland and a 28-yard catch by George Pickens.
The Packers attempted a throwback pass on third-and-11 on the opening play of the fourth quarter, but the Steelers sniffed it out and dropped Aaron Jones for a 5-yard loss, forcing a punt.
On the ensuing possession, Harris broke off a 24-yard run to midfield, but Pickett underthrew Diontae Johnson on play down the sideline, then overthrew Pickens on third down and the Steelers were forced to punt.
The Steelers forced another Green Bay punt and then rode Warren into field goal range for a 35-yard kick from Boswell to increase their lead to 23-19 with 5:14 remaining. Warren had four carries for 35 yards during the drive.
“I thought those two were playing, you know, unreal today. So huge hats off to Warren and Harris, what they provided us,” said Pickett.
The Packers quickly moved down the field on the strength of long passes to tight end Luke Musgrave for 28 yards and 32 yards to Dontayvion Wicks, but Peterson tipped a pass in the end zone intended for Christian Watson into the air and Neal intercepted it, returning it to the Pittsburgh 24 as the Packers were turned away in the red zone once again.
“I wish I had gotten my head around sooner, I would have intercepted it,” said Peterson. “But I knew we had a safety over the top, so I was tipping it in the air for him.”
“I’m glad he did,” said Neal, who suffered a rib injury when tackled at the end of his return.
The Steelers ran more than two minutes off the clock and forced the Packers to use all of their timeouts, but Love hit two big passes to get the Packers into range to be throwing the ball into the end zone again at the end. This time, it was Kazee who had the interception.
“We made the necessary splash plays on defense in the waning moments, when they got somewhat one-dimensional,” said Tomlin. “They do a really good job of kind of keeping you off balance schematically and minimizing that young quarterback’s exposure to a defense, but later in the game when it gets a little bit thick, I thought we would have our opportunities and we did and we made them, so excited about that.”