When it comes to the Pittsburgh Steelers there really isn’t anything Super about them anymore.

The defending Super Bowl champs lost their fifth game in a row, and their playoff hopes were thrown for a loop by the struggling Cleveland Browns. With their defeat of Pittsburgh 13-6 on Thursday night facing wind chills at subzero temperatures, Cleveland snapped a 12 game losing streak versus the rival Steelers.

Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger got sacked eight times. It was his first defeat at the hands of Cleveland (2-11) in eleven career games. The Browns extended the longest losing streak of the Steelers in six years, defeating Pittsburgh (6-7) at home. It’s the first time that has happened since 2000.

The Steelers will need some help in order to make it into the playoffs. The free fall is stunning for the team that at the halfway point of the season had a record of 6-2.

The losses to Cleveland, Oakland and Kansas City, three of the worst teams in the NFL whose combined record is 9-28 has been completely unexpected, and has pushed Pittsburgh to the brink of missing the playoffs.

Hines Ward, Steelers receiver said, losing five games in a row after coming off last year’s Super Bowl is really embarrassing. There is nothing ever fun when it comes to losing games, especially when you lose five straight. We are a better team than that and should be playing a lot better. We have three games left. You will see who wants to really go out there and play for our city’s and organization’s pride and who really doesn’t want to be here.

Kicker Phil Dawson had two field goals of 29 yards each, and Chris Jennings, who started off the season on the practice squad for Cleveland, scored a 10 yard rushing touchdown, as the Browns snapped a losing streak of seven games as well as a home ten game losing streak to defeat Pittsburgh for only the second time in the last twenty games.

Ben Roethlisberger tried his best to rally his team, however a fourth down pass intended for Santonio Holmes with under two minutes to play in the game got knocked down by David Bowens, Browns linebacker.

When Holmes got tackled on the punt return as the final second of the game ticked off on the clock on the scoreboard, the frozen fans of the Browns, who were almost outnumbered by Pittsburgh Terrible Towel waving fans, danced for joy in the aisles. Some of the Browns players raced down field to the Dawg Pound and jumped into the section to celebrate.

Josh Cribbs, Browns receiver said, it means everything. There’s lots of Steelers fans in the city. I hope that people go into work and give those Steelers fans a kick.

Pittsburgh, who lost some of their spirit as well as much of their toughness on defense when Troy Polamalu, Pro Bowl safety injured his knee, left the football field completely stunned.

Holmes said, it’s very hurtful. I never thought we would lose five games straight. Those guys will definitely continue fight over our last three games. I hope we will be able to get back together this summer and regroup and just start all over again.

It was only the second win for Eric Mangini, the embattled first year head coach of Cleveland. He definitely helped his cause for job security with the Browns defeat of Pittsburgh. The last Browns coach to do so was Chris Palmer when he did nine years ago.

From the wildcat formation Cribbs had 87 yards rushing and 104 return yards. He also caught a nine yard pass and picked up a critical first down during the fourth quarter when a run of 14 yards when Cleveland was trying to hold the ball and milk the clock.

After the game, Cribbs soaked up the biggest win of his career. He knew that the 2 ½ hour bus ride for the Steelers back to Pennsylvania was not going to be fun.

Cribbs said, they will be hearing the engine of the bus all the way home. It’s a lonely ride. For years I have ridden it. Now it’s time that they hear the engine on their way home as they are looking at the stat sheets.

With 6:16 left to play, the Steelers got the ball at their 21 yard line needing to get a touchdown to tie the game. Roethlisberger, who in the past has broken the hearts of Cleveland, began to lead the Steelers down the field with his short passing. However at midfield he was sacked during the last two minutes of the game and also had his last pass batted away.

Browns quarterback Brady Quinn, who was making the first start of his career against the Steelers, only completed one pass during the second half. He finished the game 6 for 19 for a total of 90 yards.

Roethlisberger was 18 for 32 for a total of 201 yards. The swirling winds that blew over twenty mph on a consistent basis, gave him trouble throwing, while the running game of the Steelers was never established against Cleveland’s 32nd ranked defense.

The first half of the game was dominated by the Brown’s defense. Roethlisberger was sacked five times and he was pressured on practically every play.

The Super Bowl Champs are losing their self confidence just as fast as they are losing leads and games. Meanwhile, the Raiders are suddenly winning with surprise finishes and remarkable comebacks just like the old days.

With nine seconds left to go in the game Louis Murphy caught a touchdown pass of 11 yards from Bruce Gradkowski, his second score during the last 5 ½ minutes of the games, as Oakland scored three touchdowns late in the game to stun the Steelers on Sunday 27-24 and hand Pittsburgh their fourth loss in a row.

Pittsburgh (6-6) is now in danger of not making the playoffs following their second Super Bowl win in four seasons. The Steelers went ahead in the game 24-20 on a touchdown pass of 11 yards from Ben Roethlisberger to Hines Ward with just 1:56 left in the game, only to see Oakland (4-8) rally to win the game.

The Raiders came into the game as a two touchdown underdog. The come from behind victory was even better than the upset 20-17 win two weeks before over the Bengals. During that game Murphy had a touchdown catch of 29 yards and during the last 33 seconds Sebastian Janikowski had a field goal of 33 yards.

Last season Gradkowski was over matched versus his hometown Pittsburgh Steelers. He became Oakland’s first quarterback to have three touchdown passes during the fourth quarter since December 3, 1979 when Ken Stabler did during a Raiders 42-35 victory over the Saints after Oakland trailed in the game 35-14.

Does Gradkowski think he is George Blanda, former comeback kid for the Raiders? Coming into the game Oakland had only five throwing touchdowns for the entire season.

Last December while playing with Cleveland, Gradkowski only completed two passes. His passer rating was 1.0 as the Browns lost to the Steelers 31-0. On Sunday Gradkowski went 20 for 33 for a total of 308 yards and a 121.8 passer rating.

Todd Watkins, Raiders wide receiver said, our receivers coach was giving up a message. He brought up Mike Tyson getting knocked out by Buster Douglas, Miracle on Ice, things that were totally unbelievable. The people that were able to do it believed that they could.

At midseason, Pittsburgh had a record of 6-2. During the past three weeks they have lost to the Raiders and Chiefs (3-9), two of the worst teams in the NFL, and have fallen three games behind the AFC North leading Bengals (9-3).

James Farrior, linebacker said, I can’t even begin to describe how frustrated we are to be at 6-6. At this point in the season we thought we would be doing much better. But we are exactly what our current record says that we are.

For the fifth time out of six losses, Pittsburgh wasn’t able to hold a lead during the fourth quarter. The Steelers had leads of 10-6 and 17-13 as well as 24-20.

Deshea Townsend, cornerback said, as a defense we want to be really dominant. The way for us to be really dominating is when our team needs us to finish.

Following three quarters of not much scoring or action, along with a crowd that was unusually quiet, the fourth quarter saw two revived offenses engaged in a duel that went back and forth, with five lead changes during the last 8 ½ minutes of the game.

Jon Condo of Oakland said, we would score, then they would score, then we would score.

It all began when Chaz Schilens caught a scoring pass of 17 yards from Gradkowski with 8:21 left to play to make the score 13-10 and give the Raiders their first lead

Oakland, who during their first five games on the road was held to just 49 points, and the second worst ranked offense in the NFL, once again fell behind in the game 17-13 on a touchdown run of 3 yards by Rashard Mendenhall, following a 57 yard pass from Roethlisberger to Santonio Holmes the play before. Earlier in the game Holmes had given the Steelers the lead 10-3 on a scoring catch of 34 yards.

The Raiders were able to answer again when Ike Taylor got ahead of Murphy to score on a touchdown pass of 75 yards to make the score 20-17 with just 5:28 to play. However, it wasn’t over yet.

In seven plays the Steelers drove 80 yards and Ward scored a touchdown. However there was still nearly three minutes left on the clock, enough time for the Raiders to get a win with the type of drive that they have rarely been able to mount all season long, much less doing it three times during a single quarter.

Gradkowski connected with Murphy on a 19 yard pass down to Pittsburgh’s 40 yard line, and then a 17 yard pass play down to the 23 yard line. Ryan Mundy, backup safety, was then penalized for a late hit to give the Raiders the ball at the 11 yard line with a first down. Murphy was then able to get free behind Mundy, who was playing in place of Troy Polamalu who missed his three game in a row with an injured knee. Murphy scored the game winning touchdown.

Gradkowski said, that was very exciting. I can’t put how I feel into words. Gradkowski’s first two starts versus Pittsburgh in 2006 and then 2008 only resulted in three points along with five interceptions and no wins.

Played just 17 days before the 37the anniversary for the Immaculate Reception, Pittsburgh had one last chance. On the last play of the game, from midfield Roethlisberger threw for the end zone. However Hiram Eugene was able to knock the pass down that was headed for Limas Sweed.

This time there was no miracle finish versus the Raiders.

Mike Tomlin, Steelers coach said, at critical times we played poorly. When that happens you lose.