Brutal Baltimore weather conditions work against Steelers in the first half

After winning two straight games, the Pittsburgh Steelers strolled into Baltimore as 3.5-point favorites over the Ravens in Week 18. Mike Tomlin's team was coming off back-to-back games of at least 30 points since making the switch to Mason Rudolph at quarterback, and there was reason enough to believe they could have another big offensive outing in their season finale.

That is, before we knew what the weather conditions would be like in Baltimore this evening.

As the rain poured down, ESPN's camera crew had a hard time keeping clean enough lenses for fans to watch from home. This torrential downpour resulted in sloppy football and numerous turnovers in the first half.

Though the Steelers were able to force and recover a fumble from the Ravens, the Steelers fumbled three times of their own in the first half -- losing two of them. One such lost fumble came just before halftime. If Pittsburgh had held onto the football, they could have potentially kicked a Chris Boswell field goal to go up 10-7.

Sloppy weather conditions are not favoring Steelers

Instead, the Steelers are knotted at 7-7 following the first two quarters of play. Considering how many players Ravens head coach John Harbaugh chose to bench this week, Steelers fans were really hoping they would have a bigger lead at this point in the game.

Baltimore is without much of their team today in an effort to rest their best players for the playoffs. This includes players like QB Lamar Jackson, WR Zay Flowers, WR Odell Beckham Jr., S Kyle Hamilton, CB Marlon Humphrey, and LB Roquon Smith among a handful of others.

The sloppy weather conditions are making it hard for Pittsburgh's offense to hang onto the football and sustain drives. If they want to keep their playoff hopes alive, the Steelers must take care of the football while finding a way to score points in the second half. This isn't going at all like we anticipated, and with everything at stake, it's time for the offense to pick it up. Stay tuned!