PITTSBURGH — The Super Bowl champion Steelers are losing their confidence as fast as they’re losing leads and losing games.
The Oakland Raiders? Suddenly, they’re winning like they did in the old days, with remarkable comebacks and surprise finishes.
Louis Murphy caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Bruce Gradkowski with nine seconds remaining, his second score in the final 5 1/2 minutes, and the Raiders scored three late touchdowns to stun Pittsburgh 27-24 on Sunday and deal the Steelers their fourth consecutive loss.
The Steelers (6-6), in danger of missing the playoffs after winning the Super Bowl for a second time in four seasons, went ahead 24-20 on Ben Roethlisberger’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Hines Ward with 1:56 remaining, only to have the Raiders (4-8) drive 88 yards in 10 plays to win it. Murphy’s first scoring reception, a 75-yarder with 5:28 left, had put the Raiders ahead 20-17.
Gradkowski became the first Raiders quarterback to throw three touchdowns in a fourth quarter since Ken Stabler during a 42-35 win over New Orleans on Dec. 3, 1979, when Oakland trailed 35-14.
Until Sunday, the Raiders had thrown only five touchdown passes all season.
Gradkowski, who completed only two passes and had a 1.0 passer rating during a 31-0 loss in Pittsburgh with Cleveland last December, finished with a passer rating of 121.8.
Pittsburgh, 6-2 at midseason, has lost to two of the NFL’s worst teams in the last three weeks, the Chiefs (3-9) and the Raiders, to fall three games behind Cincinnati (9-3) in the AFC North.
“I can’t even describe how frustrating it is right now to be 6-6,” linebacker James Farrior said. “We thought we’d be doing a lot better at this point. But we are what our record says we are.”
