Gutsy call on final play gets Pittsburgh Steelers a dramatic walk-off win

The Pittsburgh Steelers had five seconds left and a choice.

They could have kicked a field goal and sent Monday night’s game against the San Diego Chargers to overtime or go for the win. The Steelers went for it and were rewarded for their boldness.

Le’Veon Bell stretched across the goal line with no time left on the clock, and the Steelers pulled out a crazy 24-20 win. The flight home to Pittsburgh, at 3-2, will be a lot more pleasant than if Bell had been stopped.

The Steelers had a timeout and probably figured that one play might not take off the entire final five seconds, but that was a huge risk. And on a direct snap to Bell, all five seconds ran off. Had Bell not scored, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, who was criticized after last week’s overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens, would have been under some extreme fire.

Tomlin said he was hoping that he would have had enough time to call a timeout, but ultimately he was fine going for the victory.

“But we’ve got to run the football, man. We’ve got Le’Veon Bell,” Tomlin said in his postgame news conference. “We had an opportunity to win the game, we’re on the road in a hostile environment, we’ve got to play to win, and that’s what we did.”

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And Bell could have gone down with time left on the clock once the hole wasn’t wide open, but he went for the goal line.

“I was thinking, we still have a timeout left, so even if I get stopped maybe run off four seconds and get a timeout at the worst, get a field goal,” Bell told ESPN after the game. “I wanted to end the game right there, and I’m glad I did.”

It was close. Probably too close for the hearts in the Pittsburgh area.

After taking the direct snap, Bell jumped in the air at the line to clear a defender. That took some a precious second. Then linebacker Donald Butler got Bell from behind and started dragging him down. And just before Bell’s knee hit the turf, he stretched the ball over the plane, with no time left on the clock.

The Steelers won by inches.

When Philip Rivers hit Antonio Gates for their second touchdown of the game with a little more than eight minutes left, the Chargers led 17-10 and it looked like the game might be over because the Steelers offense couldn’t move the ball. But then Steelers quarterback Michael Vick, who was struggling so much that ESPN commentator Jon Gruden was wondering if Landry Jones should replace him, hit Markus Wheaton for a 72-yard touchdown catch. 

The Chargers got a field goal after that to take the lead, but in the final minutes Vick led a drive down to the 1-yard line.

Vick kept the chains moving, and then Vick’s first rushing attempt of the entire night came when he dropped back and the middle of the field opened up for him. He ran for 24 yards to get the Steelers in field-goal position. ESPN pointed out on the broadcast that Vick had never had a start in his NFL career in which he didn’t have a rushing attempt.

Then Vick, on third-and-10, hit tight end Heath Miller on a pass to the 1-yard line. An unnecessary roughness penalty stopped the clock with five seconds left.

That left Tomlin with a tough decision. He gambled. The Steelers won.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab