Le’Veon Bell took a direct snap from center in a wildcat formation, leaped over a fallen defender and scored from 1-yard out on the final play of the game as the Pittsburgh Steelers grabbed a 24-20 victory over the San Diego Chargers on Monday night.
After a 16-yard pass from Michael Vick to Heath Miller moved Pittsburgh to the Chargers 1-yard line with 5 seconds remaining, the Steelers elected to go for the game-winning touchdown instead of the tying field goal. The Steelers had one timeout left but wouldn’t have been able to stop the clock if Bell was stopped short.
Bell extended the ball over the goal line as time expired to give the Steelers the victory.
Antonio Gates caught two touchdowns in his first game back from suspension as the Chargers tried to hold onto the late lead. Josh Lambo’s 54-yard field goal gave the Chargers the 20-17 lead with just under three minutes left to play.
Vick led the Steelers on an 12-play, 80-yard drive to win the game. Vick completed a third down pass to Darrius Heyward-Bey to move the chains, scrambled for a 24-yard gain and then hit Miller to move to the Chargers’ 1-yard line. Due to a personal foul on San Diego, the clock stopped with five seconds to play and the Steelers didn’t have to use their final time out, which gave them the hope of running a play and then the potential game-tying field goal if necessary.
Instead, Bell’s run would have taken too long and the game would have ended had Bell not broken the plane of the end zone.