In a game that went down to the wire, the Pittsburgh Steelers secured a 26–24 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Jan. 4 to clinch the AFC North title and final playoff spot in the last game of the NFL regular season. Yet a quiet moment before the game turned into the night’s most unexpected story.
Hours before kickoff at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, NBC cameras captured Father Maximilian Maxwell, prior of Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, blessing the field with holy water. The gesture is part of a long-standing tradition tied to the Steelers’ relationship with the Benedictine monks at nearby Saint Vincent College, where the team holds training camp.
With seconds left on the clock in the fourth quarter of the game, Ravens rookie kicker Tyler Loop stepped up for a 44-yard field goal — aimed at the very end zone where Father Maxwell had sprinkled holy water before the game. Had it been successful, Baltimore would have made it to the playoffs.
Instead, the ball veered wide right. It was Loop’s first miss of the season from inside 50 yards.
In the aftermath of the miss, NBC’s Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth revisited the pre-game blessing during their postgame analysis.
“This is a priest who is spreading holy water in that end zone,” Tirico said. “The Catholic community in Pittsburgh is really strong, and its ties to the Steelers are everywhere. And down at that end zone, Tyler Loop misses the field goal and allows the Steelers to win.”
Social media did the rest and erupted with laughter and disbelief over the “holy water miss,” turning the moment into instant Steelers-Ravens rivalry lore. Fans flooded timelines with memes and one-liners, joking that the holy water “repelled the football.”
Others called it proof that prayers get answered (at least in Pittsburgh), while some simply posted rows of laughing emojis to mark the sheer absurdity of a routine blessing aligning perfectly with a season-ending shank.
THIS IS INSANE
THE #STEELERS HAD A PRIEST POUR HOLY WATER BEFORE THE GAME ON THE FIELD… IN THE SAME END ZONE THAT TYLER LOOP MISSED HIS GAME-WINNING FIELD GOAL.
GOD SENT PITTSBURGH TO THE PLAYOFFS.
THIS IS CRAZY
pic.twitter.com/wKMKsRwo2P https://t.co/gkAK9jnyqB— MLFootball (@MLFootball) January 5, 2026
Fr. Maxwell himself has downplayed the attention, reminding reporters that the blessing is about protection and prayer, not magic.
“We do it every home game,” he said. “The focus should be on the players,”
As for Loop, the 2025 sixth-round pick responded to the difficult moment with faith of his own.
“Faith is a big part of my life,” he said in the locker room. “Right now, I’m reminding myself that God’s got my back even when stuff sucks.”
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