Rivers went 21-of-35 for 308 yards and three touchdowns on a 25-dgreee day as snow flurries briefly coated the field — hey, this isn’t southern California — but the Chargers failed to improve on one of the NFL’s most curious records. They’re 0-13 in Pittsburgh during the regular season, but previously were 2-0 there in the playoffs.

The Steelers weren’t as dominant defensively as they were while holding eight teams to 10 or fewer points during the season, but they also weren’t as rusty as the other three home teams this weekend and now are 13-4. The Chargers ended 9-9, following an unlikely five-game winning streak that came after they looked to be out of playoff contention at 4-8.

Roethlisberger, again looking like the can’t-shake-me quarterback who led three road playoff wins in three weeks as the Steelers won the Super Bowl three years ago, converted three times on third down plays of 8 yards to go or longer ahead of his TD pass to Miller. He went 17-of-26 for 181 yards as the Steelers outgained the Chargers 342-290.

That scary concussion Roethlisberger sustained against Cleveland?

“It was a non-issue for us,” said Tomlin, who won his first playoff game as Pittsburgh’s coach.

And for the supposed difficulty of beating a team three times in a season, as the Steelers will attempt to do against Baltimore, Tomlin said, “I personally don’t subscribe to that hocus-pocus.”

For all of Roethlisberger’s playmaking — on one play, he even threw a block to help Holmes pick up extra yardage — it was a healthy Parker who made the major difference in a Steelers offense that was the worst statistically of the 12 playoff teams.

Parker, who fought through knee and shoulder injuries during his first sub-1,000-yard season as a starter, had his most productive game since running for 138 yards and three TDs against Houston in the Sept. 7 opener.

“We knew we could do that,” Holmes said. “That’s Steelers football, run the ball. Pound them down, once we get them down we can do whatever we want to do with them.”

Also on NBCSports.com Rosenthal: Steelers’ struggles could sink their playoff hopes Circling the Bases: Halladay to Cubs? That’s unlikely College Football Talk: Weis to resign? That’s ‘not happening’ Opinion: So far, Nowitzki is NBA’s MVP  |  Fan Ranker Twitter: Follow us @nbc_sports

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