PITTSBURGH — You know those charts that you drew outlining all the different scenarios that would put the Steelers into the playoffs?

Well, they should have gone out with the Christmas wrapping after the Baltimore Ravens soundly defeated the home team at Heinz Field Sunday, handing Pittsburgh a 31-7 loss that extinguished its faint hopes for a spot in the postseason.

With Sunday's victory and a 27-0 victory win in Baltimore Nov. 26, the Ravens swept the season series for the first time ever.

"We got beat today by a better football team," coach Bill Cowher said "We weren't on the top of our game, and, against a team like that, you're not going to win.

"We couldn't get anything going on offense in the first half until the end of the half and we gave up too many pass plays on defense, and, as a result, the score was what it was," he added.

Baltimore continued its mastery of the Steelers that it established in the teams' previous meeting. Just like that game, the Ravens kept a lid on the Steelers rushing game — quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was the leading runner Sunday with 33 yards on four rushes while Willie Parker was held to 29 yards on 13 carries.

Roethlisberger also found the going tough in the passing department, going 15-for-30 for 156 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Baltimore also sacked him five times.

The Steelers quarterback said some of his woes could be attributed to him being out of sync with his receivers.

"I just felt for the first time in a long time that I wasn't quite on the same page with the receivers," he said. "That's a shame because that's something we pride ourselves in: being on the same page and making things happen."

One difference from the previous contest came in the turnover column. In November, Baltimore committed no turnovers. On Sunday the Steelers picked off quarterback Steve McNair twice and forced a fumble.

Two of those turnovers provided most of the life the Steelers had on offense.

With Baltimore holding a 14-0 advantage with two minutes to go in the second quarter, a McNair pass bounced off the hands of receiver Derrick Mason and was snagged by Steelers cornerback Deshea Townsend and returned to the Ravens' 40.

Seven plays later, Roethlisberger found tight end Heath Miller for a 1-yard touchdown pass 11 seconds before halftime to cut the Baltimore lead to 14-7.

"I thought we had a little momentum at halftime," Cowher said. "We were down by only seven points."

That momentum fizzled when the Ravens scored on the opening drive of the third quarter to take a 21-7 lead.

Another Ravens turnover set the stage for the Steelers' best drive of the game, when cornerback Bryant McFadden picked off McNair at the Pittsburgh 2-yard line.

But after a couple of Roethlisberger passes and a 20-yard run by the quarterback, a couple of Willie Parker runs and two Baltimore penalties helped to take the Steelers to the Ravens 3-yard line, Parker fumbled, killing the team's last best scoring opportunity.

Meanwhile, McNair surgically picked apart the Steelers' defense with pinpoint precision and he exploited lapses by the Steelers' defense.

McNair was 21-of-31 for 256 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. The former Tennessee quarterback beat Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu on two of the touchdowns.

"He plays smart and he made the big throws – he beat Troy (Polamalu) twice," Cowher said. "To their credit, they executed plays."

Roethlisberger also had praise for his counterpart.

"He made a couple of great throws tonight," he said. "Charlie (Batch) and Brian (St. Pierre) and I sat over there and a couple of throws, we said, 'That's pretty impressive.'"

The reality of a disappointing season finally settled on the Steelers after Sunday's loss. After going from the penthouse of a Super Bowl title to the outhouse of missing the playoffs in one year, they know there is much to be done to get the team back into the top tier of NFL teams.

"I told some of the receivers that, hey, we've got to get better," Roethlisberger said. "We all know that we need to improve. We feel we've made some big steps with the young guys, and we'll get better because we'll work together this off-season."