CLEVELAND - Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin often refers to weighty downs when talking about games.

And in those instances, the old mantra "You win some, you lose some," doesn't really apply. If you lose weighty downs, you'll likely lose the game.

Thursday night against the Browns here at Huntington Bank Field, the Steelers lost way more of those weighty downs than they won.

And it was how they lost the weighty downs that made the difference in a 24-19 loss.

The Steelers wanted to get off to a quick start in this game and perhaps convince the Browns that they weren't all that interested in competing on this cold, snowy night. At 2-8 coming into this game, the Browns really didn't have anything more than pride for which to play.

The Steelers moved the ball on their first two possessions. But they came away with nothing to show for those two drives, as Russell Wilson was sacked on third-and-3 at the Cleveland 32 for an 8-yard loss, leading to Chris Boswell missing a 58-yard field goal, then saw Justin Fields tackled for a 2-yard loss on fourth-and-2 from the Cleveland 38 on their next possession.

In both instances, the defense did its job and didn't allow a first down despite Cleveland getting the ball at midfield, but those two instances seemed to fire up the Browns.

To make matters worse, the Steelers turned the ball over on downs after getting a fumble on Cleveland's opening possession of the second half, as Jaylen Warren was stopped for a 1-yard loss at the Pittsburgh 46 and trailing 10-3.

Once again, the defense forced a three-and-out, but the damage was being done. If you can't get a yard in those kind of situations, you don't deserve to win.

The Steelers didn't.

"We put our defense in bad situations," said tight end Pat Freiermuth, who converted a fourth-and-1 for the Steelers on their second possession of the second half, the only one of three fourth downs they converted in the game.

"But we'll be alright. We'll learn from it. We're still in a good spot."

The stat sheet shows that the Steelers won the turnover battle in this game, 3-1, getting an interception and recovering a pair of fumbles.

But in reality, while the missed field goal and stops on fourth down don't count as turnovers, they really are. The result was the Steelers didn't have the ball any longer.

And they certainly didn't help the Steelers start fast.

"They brought it and they brought it instantly early on," said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin of the Browns. "I thought we settled down and got competitive, but it produced some negativity, particularly in the first half."

So much for a fast start.

"That was the goal, to get up on them early," said Freiermuth. "We didn't do that. We gave ourselves a chance at the end. It happens. We'll move past it."

While the Steelers were faltering on their fourth-down attempts, the Browns were executing them perfectly. While they went just 1 of 10 on third downs, they converted all four of their attempts on fourth down.

All led to touchdowns, including a scoring run by quarterback Jameis Winston on fourth-and-goal from the 2, in the fourth quarter.

Three of the four came on runs.

Those are tone setters.

And in this case, even though the Browns averaged just 3.1 yards per carry on their 27 rushing attempts, their runners constantly fell forward. The Steelers had one tackle for a loss. The Browns had 11.

That is how you lose to a team that, on paper, isn't as good.

"It's execution. I believe in the calls. I believe in the coaches," said Freiermuth. "The players have got to do better. We'll be alright."

• The Steelers very well may be alright, but they're going to have a few extra days to chew on this loss.

They didn't have any time to celebrate their 18-16 win last Sunday over the Ravens. But they'll have a couple of extra days to wallow in this defeat.

Thursday night games aren't usually all that pretty. Largely, you just want to survive them.

"We could have some head-scratching about what was displayed, but, man, you just take it and move on," said defensive tackle Cam Heyward. "Everybody's (angry) about the loss, but we've got to learn from it."

What they might have learned is that it still stinks to be the road team in a Thursday night game, especially coming off a physical, emotional game against the Ravens.

The Steelers are now just 1-9 in their last 10 road Thursday night games.

The good news is that they don't have another Thursday night game this season.

They do play again on a short week, facing the Chiefs at Acrisure Stadium on Christmas Day, four days after playing the Ravens in Baltimore.

• It's hard to get too upset over a loss on the road on a short week when you just rattled off five consecutive wins and are 8-3, but nobody was happy about how this one went down.

The game was there for the Steelers to win. They just didn't get it done, failing to get the stop needed after they had gone ahead, 19-18, on a 23-yard Russell Wilson pass to Calvin Austin III.

"Missed opportunities," said Heyward.

But this was one of those games where even the special teams let the team down.

Not only did Boswell miss a kick – even if it was from 58 yards – but punter Corliss Waitman shanked his only kick of the game just 15 yards, giving Cleveland the ball back at the Pittsburgh 45 with 3:22 remaining.

They got opportunities to return kickoffs and didn't provide a boost there, either.

It was one of those days.

Boswell and Waitman had been so good this season, it's hard to blame them for having poor kicks on a night like this one.

But it just shows that when things go badly, they often snowball – no pun intended.

• Where was the pass rush?

Cleveland entered this game having allowed a league-worst 46 sacks. The Browns were forced to start Germain Ifedi at left tackle, a position at which he had played 47 career snaps coming into this game.

The Steelers had one sack, that coming from Nick Herbig against Ifedi, a play on which he forced a fumble that set up Wilson's TD pass to Austin.

They had six quarterback hits, but that paled in comparison to the four sacks and nine quarterback hits recorded by the Browns.

The Steelers are built to rush the passer. They just didn't do a great job of it in this game.

The snow, which began to accumulate in the second half, didn't help that. But that can't be an excuse. The Browns played on the same field.

• There seem to be two or three games every season in Cleveland that are weather-affected. But it shouldn't have affected this Steelers team like it has some others in the past.

The Steelers are built to run the ball. It's their identity.

"They did a good job changing up their fronts," said guard Mason McCormick. "But it's disappointing we didn't run the ball better."

The Steelers finished with 120 rushing yards on 34 carries, but 30 of that came on a Fields rush. And, again, there were just way too many negative runs.

Wilson kept the Steelers in it, completing 21 of 28 passes for 270 yards and a touchdown. He converted a number of third-and-longs with some big throws.

But the Steelers have to be able to run the ball and run it more effectively than they did Thursday night.

• To the winner goes the spoils. And in this instance, Cleveland's Myles Garrett gets to talk trash.

Garrett had five tackles, three sacks – all in the first half – and a forced fumble on Wilson the Browns turned into a field goal late in the first half.

T.J. Watt had four tackles, including the Steelers' lone tackle for a loss. But this wasn't his night.

And that allowed Garrett to crow a little after this game.

"I wasn't really looking at what he did, I was just focusing on playing the best ball I could," said Garrett of Watt. "But I wanted to let it be known that I am 'the guy, the No. 1 edge defender.' That was the statement that I think I made."

Saw what you will about Watt, but that's a statement he would never make. He's got way more humility than that.

But Garrett won this game and played well.

File that statement away, however, for the rematch in Pittsburgh in a couple of weeks.

• The packages with Fields looked a little disjointed at times in this game. A lot of that had to do with the overall execution of those plays.

Now, they did wind up being positive. Not only did Fields have the 30-yard run, he also drew a 15-yard personal foul penalty for roughing the passer on a pass during a drive that set up a Jaylen Warren touchdown in the fourth quarter.

The Steelers don't have to do a lot of adjustments when Fields comes into the game. After all, he started the team's first six games this season.

But working on a short week, some of the blocking didn't align with what Fields was trying to do as a runner.

Perhaps that will get better as the team incorporates him back into the offense on a more regular basis.

• So, the Steelers' five-game winning streak came to an end. But this loss isn't as damaging as it could have been had the Browns not beaten the Ravens a few weeks ago.

Because of that loss, coupled with the Steelers' win over Baltimore last Sunday, the Ravens have two division losses.

Right now, the Steelers have one.

The best the Ravens can get to in the division is 4-2. They have games against the Steelers and Browns remaining, both of which will be played in Baltimore.

The Steelers are now 1-1 in the division. Last season, they went 5-1 in AFC North games.

Even with this loss, everything is still within their control in terms of the division title.

The loss stinks. But the Steelers were put in a very tough situation playing on a short week after just playing and beating the Ravens.

The bottom line is that they're still 8-3 and in first place in the division.

• It was good to see Freiermuth utilized more in the passing game. He finished with four receptions for 59 yards.

Freiermuth hadn't been used much in Wilson's first four starts, catching just 10 passes.

But he can be a factor for this team down the stretch.

• Dale Lolley is co-host of "SNR Drive" on Steelers Nation Radio. Subscribe to the podcast here: Apple Podcast | iHeart Podcast Pittonline@iheartmedia.com

Austin and Van Jefferson also made big plays, as Austin finished with three catches for 78 yards, while Jefferson had two receptions for 39 yards, including a 35-yard reception.

Mike Williams wasn't targeted in this game, but at some point that is going to start happening, as well.

George Pickens still had a team-high seven targets and caught four passes for 48 yards. But he can't be the entire passing game. That makes the Steelers too easy to defend.

• Pickens can't lose his cool after losses.

He did so at the end of the team's loss to the Cowboys earlier this season, throwing a defensive back to the ground by his facemask following the game.

In this one, he and cornerback Greg Newsome got tangled up while the ball was in the air on a Wilson Hail Mary pass on the game's final play and it continued well after the whistle as officials ran in to break up the skirmish.

The more a player reacts that way, the more opponents are going to try to egg him on and see if they can get a reaction from him.

And it could wind up costing Pickens more than money from fines.

The Steelers don't need Pickens doing something that winds up getting him suspended.

He's competitive. He doesn't like to lose. But he needs to use that fire in a positive way. Go dominate the next matchup.

• The Steelers finished with more yards (368-304), won the time of possession (35:02-24:58) and had four plays of 30 or more yards compared to none for the Browns.

It just goes to show that simply winning things of that nature don't win you the game. The Steelers have been great winning in the margins in recent seasons.

They didn't win the margins in this game, drawing penalties and posting too many negative plays.

But those are things that can be fixed.

This team will be OK. It had a bad game.

Now that it's got that out of its system, going on another winning streak would be helpful.