Trailing by two touchdowns with 30 minutes to play, the Pittsburgh Steelers relied on their fearsome defense and Ben Roethlisberger to save their season.

Roethlisberger threw a pair of second-half touchdown passes and Pittsburgh's defense forced a string of critical turnovers as the Steelers advanced to the AFC Championship Game with a 31-24 victory over the visiting Baltimore Ravens on Saturday afternoon.

Rashard Mendenhall's second touchdown, a 2-yard plunge with 1:33 to play, accounted for the winning score for Pittsburgh (13-4), which rallied from a 21-7 halftime deficit to advance to the conference title game for the fourth time in seven seasons.

The Steelers will face either the New York Jets or the New England Patriots on Jan. 23 for the right to advance to the Super Bowl.

Pittsburgh's defense turned the game around with a magnificent third quarter, forcing three turnovers and holding the Ravens (13-5) to minus-4 yards. The Steelers limited the Ravens to 126 total yards.

Roethlisberger overcame six sacks and a costly fumble to beat Baltimore for the seventh straight time and improve to 9-2 lifetime against the Ravens.

The two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback came up with the decisive play, connecting with Antonio Brown for a 58-yard pass on a third-and-19 to set up Mendenhall's winning touchdown.

Fumbles by Baltimore's Ray Rice and quarterback Joe Flacco sandwiched around a Flacco interception sparked the third-quarter turnaround.

Roethlisberger turned the turnovers into 17 points, throwing scoring passes to Heath Miller and Hines Ward to tie it at 21-21 with 1:21 left in the third quarter.

Shaun Suisham's 35-yard field goal with 12:15 to play nudged the Steelers in front 24-21, but Billy Cundiff tied it with a 24-yarder with 3:54 left.

Baltimore capitalized on Pittsburgh's mistakes to erase an early 7-0 deficit, scoring 14 points in 27 seconds en route to taking a 21-7 halftime lead.

The Ravens went ahead on a bizarre play when Terrell Suggs jarred the ball loose from Roethlisberger. The ball lay harmlessly on the ground for a few seconds before Cory Redding scooped it up and returned in 13 yards for a score and a 14-7 lead.

Another mistake by the Steelers, this time a fumble by Mendenhall deep in Steelers' territory, led to Flacco's 4-yard scoring pass to Todd Heap to widen the margin to 21-7 with 5:43 left in the half.