HOW DID WE DO IT? MIKE TOMLIN AND CAM HEYWARD SHARE A HUG. (PHOTO BY BRIAN COOK SR.)
On Sunday January 4, 2026, the Pittsburgh Steelers clipped the wings of the Baltimore Ravens by the unlikely score of 26-24. The football gods decided to close their prayer line a bit earlier before the Baltimore Ravens faithful could submit a request for a blessing on behalf of their placekicker, Tyler Loop. Prior to Loop missing the fateful kindergarten-distance miss of what should’ve been the game-winning field goal for the Ravens, the NBC announcers were giving us the backstory about how Tyler Loop was hired after the Ravens had searched far and wide to find a replacement for their recently retired legendary placekicker, Justin Tucker. The covert blessing bestowed on the Ravens rookie kicker by saints Chris Collinsworth and Mike Tirico fell just short of having enough “Holy juice” to be effective.
They didn’t take into consideration that the vortex created by the twirling of 70,000 terrible towels coupled with the frigid night air and as well as the endzone being blessed with Holy Water by St. Vincent Father Maximilian Maxwell. I am not the only one who believes in divine intervention. Also, I forgot to mention that sometimes the “towel vortex” can be so powerful that NASA is forced to alter the flight path of their spacecraft so it will not pass over Acrisure Stadium during the game, wink, wink.
Justin Vellucci recently posted an article on triblive.com. “The new Hail Mary? Fans credit holy water blessing for Steelers’ division-clinching win.” TV cameras caught the Rev. Maximilian Maxwell of Saint Vincent Archabbey near Latrobe sprinkling Holy Water across the turf of the end zone in Acrisure Stadium during pregame warmup. Vellucci wrote. “Hours later, the blessed endzone became the site of what was the game’s decisive moment—Ravens rookie kicker Tyler Loop shanking his 44-yard attempted field goal wide right as time expired. The botched kick—what some fans are referring to as the Immaculate Protection—sealed the Steelers’ dramatic 26-24 win, a playoff berth—and the AFC North crown. Maxwell, who could not be reached for comment, actually was the substitute priest at the game. Those chores would have been handled by the Rev. Paul Taylor, president of Saint Vincent College in Unity, but he was out of town for the game, said Kim Metzgar, a spokeswoman for the archabbey.”
It was revealed that the sprinkling of Holy Water has been done every game since Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium) opened in 2001. As for Father Maxwell, as mentioned, he wasn’t originally slated to bless the field prior to kickoff and was actually stepping in for a fellow priest.
Personally, being a man of the cloth, I could never doubt any divine intervention, but I am just a bit curious why God did not begin his intervention after the opening kickoff as opposed to waiting until the final play. Remember Detroit Tums, Ta, Tum, Tum, Tums. Hey God, please listen up. I need your help now, not later, not now later but, now now. For the sake of preventing my premature demise, please don’t delay your assistance until there is no time left on the clock because you may be forced to use your Holy defibrillator on me first, the players second, and last but certainly not least, the “yinzer brigade.”
Even Steeler defensive lineman Cam Heyward was asked about the Immaculate Protection: “I’m not going to ask questions. The good Lord made a good decision tonight. I’m thankful and we keep moving on.”
And before the game, some fans—even non-believers—took to social media to pray after seeing the video of Father Maxwell blessing the end zone.
“Hopefully praying for a Steelers win. Not a religious man, but I’ll take any help the Steelers can get,” one fan posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Tirico, NBC’s play-by-play announcer, said after the game: “The Catholic community in Pittsburgh is really strong, and its ties to the Steelers are everywhere. And down at that endzone, Tyler Loop misses the field goal and allows the Steelers to win.”
“So it’s not Tyler Loop’s fault,” Collinsworth added.
“As with everything in football, it’s at a higher power,” Tirico replied.
After the game, Loop, a practicing Christian, said he had written a prayer before the game, which he read after the missed field goal. “Faith is a big part of my life,” he said. “It’s such a fortunate thing to be here, even going back—just being placed in Baltimore with this team has been the biggest blessing of my life and I’m super grateful for it.”
A member of my family offered up a bit of tongue-in-cheek rationale as to why Tyler Loop’s request for help wasn’t addressed by our higher power. My family member asked the perfect question. Before Tyler Loop offered up the prayer for his success, did he check to see if the lunch hours in heaven had changed for the year 2026?