The 2012 season was the Pittsburgh Steelers' 80th in the National Football League (NFL), their 13th under general manager Kevin Colbert and their sixth under head coach Mike Tomlin.

The Steelers were playing their first game with new offensive coordinator Todd Haley, but were missing long-time team leaders Hines Ward and James Farrior.

The first quarter of the game featured multiple punts by both teams, as neither offense could establish any consistency in moving the football.

The Steelers would end the first half scoring on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger to Heath Miller, giving them a 10–7 lead.

However, it would only take Manning 36-seconds to put the Broncos back on top 14–13, when a short screen pass to Demaryius Thomas resulted in a 71-yard touchdown.

The Steelers would put the first points of the fourth quarter on the board, when Roethlisberger found Mike Wallace for a 3-yard touchdown pass.

However, a Roethlisberger pass would be intercepted and returned 43-yards for a touchdown, sealing the Broncos win over the Steelers 31–19 as the team began their season 0–1 for the 2nd straight year.

The Steelers would come out after halftime and quickly take control of the game, scoring on a 37-yard touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger to Mike Wallace.

After review, it was determined that Brown had recovered his own fumble and the Steelers found themselves leading the game 31–21 with 1:31 left in the third quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter, Pittsburgh safety Ryan Mundy, playing for the injured Troy Polamalu, committed a helmet-to-helmet hit on Oakland receiver Heyward-Bey.

The Steelers secondary issues from the past few years continued, as they could not stop Carson Palmer and the Raiders passing attack.

The Steelers had a chance to win the game late in the fourth quarter, but the Raiders defense held them to a 3-and-out and forced them to punt the ball back.

Palmer would again exploit Pittsburgh's suspect secondary and kicker Janikowski would kick a 43-yard field goal as time expired to give the Raiders a 34–31 victory over the Steelers, their first of the season.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Steelers drew first blood as Ben Roethlisberger connected with Rashard Mendenhall for a 13-yard catch for a TD to take a 7–0 lead.

Still hungry for their first road win of the season, the Steelers traveled to LP Field to take on longtime and former divisional rivals the Tennessee Titans.

The Steelers fell back under .500 and sat at 2–3 and 3rd place in the AFC North while sitting at 0–3 in road games during this point of the season.

Looking for their first road win of the season the Steelers traveled to Paul Brown Stadium to take on their division rivals Bengals.

After an interception from Andy Dalton, the Steelers moved down the field as Ben Roethlisberger connected with Heath Miller for a TD pass with the 2-point conversion successful, the score was tied 14–14 at halftime.

In the fourth quarter, the Steelers would retake the lead with RB Chris Rainey running into the end zone for an 11-yard TD to move ahead 24–17.

In the 2nd quarter, the Redskins got on the board as RG3 found Santana Moss for a 2-yard TD pass (with a blocked PAT) and the score was left at 10–6.

The Steelers did not hesitate, however, as they pushed ahead by double digits as Ben Roethlisberger connected with Heath Miller for a 7-yard pass to make the score 17–6.

Due to Hurricane Sandy's aftermath, the Steelers flew to New Jersey on game day because the team was unable to find a hotel in New York.

After a scoreless first quarter punt fest, the Steelers drew first blood with Ben Roethlisberger's 4-yard TD pass to Emmanuel Sanders for a 7–0 lead.

After the break, the Giants would increase their lead from 7 to 10 points with 2 Lawrence Tynes field goals from 50 and 23 yards out making the score at first 17–10 then 20–10.

However, the Steelers responded in the 4th quarter with Roethlisberger finding Mike Wallace for a 51-yard catch and run pass to shorten the Giants' lead to 3 making it 20–17.

With losses by the Ravens and Bengals on the same day, the AFC North title remains in sight for Pittsburgh, who will travel to Dallas next week to take on the Cowboys, a team they have faced three times out of their eight appearances in the Super Bowl.

Pittsburgh also finished their regular season at 3–5 in road games after dropping to 0–2 at Cowboys Stadium (the other loss there was to the Packers in Super Bowl XLV).

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, for the second week in a row, would throw a costly interception with a chance to win the game.

By virtue of the Browns' loss later that afternoon in Denver, the Steelers are assured of third place in the AFC North for the season.

In the fourth quarter, the Steelers would increase their lead with Roethlisberger's 12-yard touchdown pass to WR Plaxico Burress to make it 24–10.