Steely Resolve

The playoffs within the AFC playoffs concluded Sunday night at Arrowhead Stadium, and the winners afterward received not a glistening trophy or pristine new caps to wear but a more urgent, less tangible distinction. They earned a coveted title, the Team Most Equipped to Face the New England Patriots, and a chance to assert their legitimacy once more.

The Pittsburgh Steelers won last week in the afternoon chill of their home stadium. They won Sunday night in the ceaseless mist and din of a stadium craving its first postseason victory in 23 years, defeating the Kansas City Chiefs by 18-16.

Behind a postseason-record six field goals by Chris Boswell, the Steelers advanced to play top-seeded New England for the conference championship next Sunday at Gillette Stadium, where they will tote the following credentials: a nine-game winning streak, a snarling defense and a running back, Le’Veon Bell, who, with 30 carries for 170 yards Sunday, surpassed the franchise’s single-game postseason rushing record — a record that had stood for 42 years — for the second time in two weeks.

“I’ve never really felt this way about a team,” guard David DeCastro said, adding: “With everyone healthy for the most part, I’d just be disappointed if we didn’t keep winning. That’s just kind of the expectations I have.”

There are similar expectations in New England, where the Patriots defeated Houston on Saturday by 18 points — and seethed and smoldered afterward at their mistakes. That attitude — never satisfied, always unfulfilled — has forged their dominance this era, with six consecutive berths in the AFC title game.

“There’s a lot of things we’ve got to do to be successful against them,” quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said. “They’re the best in the world for a reason.”

The Steelers, though, present a worthy adversary. If over the years New England has thrived by adapting to its personnel — featuring a downfield passing game one season, two tight ends another — Pittsburgh these last few months has demonstrated its own resourcefulness.

Even with Bell flattening the Chiefs’ defense and his comrade Antonio Brown exceeding 100 receiving yards yet again, the Steelers’ offensive performance Sunday night bore little resemblance to the splendor against Miami last week, when they scored touchdowns on their first three drives. Against Kansas City, they went 0 for 4 in the red zone, where Roethlisberger threw his only interception.

Fending off the Chiefs, in what Roethlisberger called the loudest stadium in the league, demanded a different formula. It demanded a defensive showing that contained the speedster Tyreek Hill, who had only 45 yards from scrimmage and fizzled as a returner, and thwarted one final comeback. And it demanded the conviction in Roethlisberger to make the correct call on the decisive play.

After scoring on a 1-yard run by Spencer Ware with 2 minutes 43 seconds left, the Chiefs, trailing by 18-16, attempted a 2-point play and converted it — or so they thought.

A holding penalty on tackle Eric Fisher — which drew the wrath of tight end Travis Kelce, who afterward said that the official who made the call should not even be permitted to work at Foot Locker — pushed the attempt back to the 12-yard line. This time, safety Sean Davis atoned for the illegal hit on Chris Conley that extended the drive by reading Alex Smith’s eyes and knocking away the pass intended for Jeremy Maclin.

On the Steelers’ ensuing possession, facing third-and-3 at their own 12, Roethlisberger convened with his offensive coordinator, Todd Haley, on the sideline. Haley asked Roethlisberger what play he liked. Roethlisberger selected one with crossing patterns, figuring that his offensive line could give him enough time to throw and one of his receivers to slip free. Rolling right, Roethlisberger found Brown for 7 yards and a first down, securing the victory and shoving the best Chiefs team in nearly 15 years into the abyss.

“You want the ball in your hands,” Roethlisberger said. “I love that situation.”

The Chiefs have advanced as far as the conference championship game only once since 1969, when they won the Super Bowl, and this team was considered the franchise’s best chance to return. Instead, they have lost their last five home playoff games, a streak of ignominy that has now touched four coaches and five quarterbacks, the latest being Coach Andy Reid and Smith, who finished 20 of 34 for 172 yards, one touchdown and an interception.

“It takes a lot to believe what is happening,” Maclin said. “This is the best football team I have played on, by far. We have nobody to blame but ourselves.”

Entering Sunday, Reid’s teams were 19-2 after a bye, and he acknowledged that he and his staff had used a bit of the extra time to study more film. The Chiefs did need it, every second, to prepare for the unorthodox style of Bell, whose combination of strength, balance and acceleration torments even the most experienced defensive gurus.

Upon taking the handoff, Bell approaches the line of scrimmage as if groping for a light-switch in darkness. He takes a small step, extends his hand, reads the block and then surges through an opening the approximate size of a two-by-four. Usually, at least.

Every so often, he does get stopped, as he did on third-and-1 from the Steelers’ 11-yard line late in the third quarter. Taking over at the Pittsburgh 46 after a punt, the Chiefs converted on a third-and-20 but managed only a field goal, a 48-yarder by Cairo Santos that drew them to within 15-10.

Asked last week how the Steelers would approach kicking to Hill, Coach Mike Tomlin quipped, “Very thoughtfully.” Their defensive coordinator, Keith Butler, asked about his unit’s plans, offered a less subtle response: “We have to make him feel it.”

Pittsburgh undoubtedly would have, if only Kansas City had complied. Exploiting the Steelers’ fixation with Hill, the Chiefs often deployed him as a decoy. They ended an opening drive that began on their 45-yard line, after Pittsburgh squib-kicked away from him, with a fake sweep to Hill and a nifty 5-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Albert Wilson.

Trailing by 7-3, the Steelers reacquainted themselves with a Chiefs defense that toughened when tested. Pittsburgh penetrated as deep as Kansas City’s 27 on its five series before halftime but did not score a touchdown, coming away with four Boswell field goals and a Roethlisberger interception off a tipped pass. The Steelers’ 275 first-half yards produced all of 12 points.

For other teams, in other games, that total might portend regret or doom. Not the Steelers, not on Sunday. Their defense, so ferocious against Miami, limited the Chiefs to 227 total yards, 61 on the ground.

The next challenge, against Tom Brady and his band of deadly options, figures to be tougher. But the Steelers, one victory from the Super Bowl, are grateful for that opportunity.