A trendy preseason pick to go far in the postseason, the Detroit Lions won't be playing beyond Sunday at Soldier Field. One of their fans, however, continues to have a big impact on the NFL's playoff picture heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
The league suspended wide receiver DK Metcalf for the AFC North-leading Pittsburgh Steelers' final two games and levied a hefty fine against the team's best pass catcher for taking a swipe at Lions fan Ryan Kennedy in the second quarter of Pittsburgh’s 29-24 victory two weeks ago.
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Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers walks off the field after an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers speaks during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)
Pittsburgh Steelers' DK Metcalf walks off the field after an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Pittsburgh Steelers' DK Metcalf wipes his face on the bench during the second half of an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Rey Del Rio)
Metcalf was sorely missed in the Steelers' 13-6 loss at Cleveland on Sunday that set up a winner-take-all showdown between Pittsburgh (9-7) and the Baltimore Ravens (8-8) this weekend. The winner wins the AFC North and gets to host a first-round playoff game. The losers clear out their lockers and pack for vacation.
The same scenario is playing out in the NFC between the Carolina Panthers (8-8) and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-9) with the winner claiming the NFC South title and a home playoff game against an NFC West team with a much better record.
Aaron Rodgers didn't find the end zone Sunday. On fourth-and-goal from the 7 with 21 seconds left, he targeted Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward and threw incomplete to Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
“That was definitely interference,” Rodgers complained of the bang-bang play.
What Rodgers never saw on Pittsburgh's last-gasp play was running back Kenneth Gainwell uncovered and wide open underneath for a touchdown that would have given the Steelers the chance to tie the game or win it with a 2-point conversion and clinch the division.
The Steelers mustered just two field goals against Cleveland after averaging 28 points over their previous three games, all wins.
“Well, the biggest issue is they don't have DK Metcalf,” studio analyst Jason Garrett said on the pregame show for NBC's Sunday Night Football telecast. "Pittsburgh's been playing small-ball on offense all year long. They run it and the ball comes out of Aaron's hand quickly in all the short stuff. And then when they get a chance, 1-on-1, they throw it to DK Metcalf and make an explosive play.
“Take him out of it, they're not very explosive," Garrett added. "They don't make big plays down the field and they don't score a lot of points.”
“Yeah, today they played like they still had him, trying to go to those 1-on-1 matchups,” concurred fellow studio analyst Devin McCourty, who suggested the Steelers are better off getting the ball into the hands of running backs Gainwell and Jaylen Warren than the patchwork receiving corps missing Metcalf.
"Getting the backs more involved will be the key for next week,” McCourty predicted.
Garrett also had some friendly advice for the Steelers as they prepare to keep up with Ravens running back Derrick Henry, who's coming off a 216-yard, four-TD performance at Green Bay.
“You know, Baltimore watched the tape, so they're going to play man-to-man coverage,” Garrett said. “I think the biggest thing for Arthur Smith, the offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh, he has to get the receivers in stacks and bunches and motions to loosen up the tight man-to-man coverage to wriggle those guys free.”
The Steelers find themselves in this precarious position because Metcalf lost his cool with the fan in Detroit, rendering him unavailable until next Monday — either in preparation for the playoffs or to clean out his locker.
Former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson said on a podcast last week that Metcalf told him Kennedy used a racial slur and verbally disparaged Metcalf’s mother, an allegation that Kennedy denied through his attorneys.
Coach Mike Tomlin said he didn't condone Metcalf's actions that led to his two-game ban but made clean Metcalf had his full support.
Having his back is one thing.
What Steelers Nation would certainly prefer is having Metcalf back on the field to extend their season.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers walks off the field after an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers speaks during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)
Pittsburgh Steelers' DK Metcalf walks off the field after an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Pittsburgh Steelers' DK Metcalf wipes his face on the bench during the second half of an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Rey Del Rio)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia bombed Yemen's port city of Mukalla on Tuesday after a weapons shipment from the United Arab Emirates arrived for separatist forces in the war-torn country, and starkly warned that it viewed Emirati actions as “extremely dangerous.”
The bombing followed days of tensions over the advance of the separatist forces known as the Southern Transitional Council, which is backed by the Emirates. Despite the warning, the Council and its allies issued a statement supporting the UAE's presence, even as others allied with Saudi Arabia demanded Emirati forces withdraw from Yemen in 24 hours' time.
The confrontation threatened to open a new front in Yemen's decadelong war, with forces allied against the Iranian-backed Houthis possibly turning their sights on each other in the Arab world's poorest nation long stalked by famine and disease.
It also further strained ties between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, neighboring nations on the Arabian Peninsula that increasingly have competed with each other over economic issues and the region’s politics, particularly in the wider Red Sea region.
“I expect a calibrated escalation from both sides. The UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council is likely to respond by consolidating control,” said Mohammed al-Basha, a Yemen expert and the founder of the Basha Report, a risk advisory firm.
“At the same time, the flow of weapons from the UAE to the STC is set to be curtailed following the port attack, particularly as Saudi Arabia controls the airspace.”
A military statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency announced the strikes, which it said came after ships arrived there from Fujairah, a port city on the UAE’s eastern coast.
“The ships’ crew had the disabled tracking devices aboard the vessels, and unloaded a large amount of weapons and combat vehicles in support of the Southern Transitional Council’s forces,” the statement said.
“Considering that the aforementioned weapons constitute an imminent threat, and an escalation that threatens peace and stability, the Coalition Air Force has conducted this morning a limited airstrike that targeted weapons and military vehicles offloaded from the two vessels in Mukalla,” it added.
It wasn't clear if there were any casualties from the strike.
Yemen’s anti-Houthi forces later declared a state of emergency Tuesday, ending its cooperation with the UAE and ordering all Emirati forces within its territory to evacuate within 24 hours. It issued a 72-hour ban on all border crossings in territory they hold, as well as entries to airports and seaports, except those allowed by Saudi Arabia.
The UAE did not respond to questions from the AP. Abu Dhabi's English-language state-linked newspaper The National reported on the strike.
The Council's AIC satellite news channel aired footage of the aftermath of the strike, but avoided showing damage to the armored vehicles near the port.
“This unjustified escalation against ports and civilian infrastructure will only strengthen popular demands for decisive action and the declaration of a South Arabian state,” the channel said.
The attack likely targeted a ship identified as the Greenland, a roll-on, roll-off vessel flagged out of St. Kitts. Tracking data analyzed by the AP showed the vessel had been in Fujairah on Dec. 22 and arrived in Mukalla on Sunday. The second vessel could not be immediately identified.
Footage later aired by Saudi state television, which appeared to be filmed by a surveillance aircraft, purportedly showed the armored vehicles moving from the ship through Mukalla to a staging area. The types of vehicles corresponded to the social media footage.
Mukalla is in Yemen's Hadramout governorate, which the Council had seized in recent days. The port city is some 480 kilometers (300 miles) northeast of Aden, which has been the seat of power for anti-Houthi forces in Yemen after the rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, back in 2014.
Yemen, on the southern edge of the Arabian Peninsula off East Africa, borders the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, as well as Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The war there has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the globe’s worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more.
The Houthis, meanwhile, have launched attacks on hundreds of ships in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war, greatly disrupting regional shipping.
The strike Tuesday in Mukalla comes after Saudi Arabia targeted the Council in airstrikes Friday that analysts described as a warning for the separatists to halt their advance and leave the governorates of Hadramout and Mahra.
The Council had pushed out forces there affiliated with the Saudi-backed National Shield Forces, another group in the coalition fighting the Houthis.
Those aligned with the Council have increasingly flown the flag of South Yemen, which was a separate country from 1967-1990. Demonstrators have been rallying for days to support political forces calling for South Yemen to secede again from Yemen.
The actions by the separatists have put pressure on the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which maintain close relations and are members of the OPEC oil cartel, but also have competed for influence and international business in recent years. Saudi Arabia in particular has sought to draw foreign firms from Dubai, home to the long-haul carrier Emirates and long a hub for expatriate workers.
The countries have had border disputes in the past, even before the UAE's founding in 1971. Tuesday's airstrikes and ultimatum appeared to be the most-serious confrontation between the nations in decades.
There has also been an escalation of violence in Sudan, another nation on the Red Sea, where the kingdom and the Emirates support opposing forces in that country’s ongoing war.
A statement Tuesday from Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry directly linked the Council's advance to the Emiratis for the first time.
“The kingdom notes that the steps taken by the sisterly United Arab Emirates are extremely dangerous,” it said.
Allies of the Council issued a statement afterward in which they showed no signs of backing down.
Meanwhile, Israel has acknowledged Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland as an independent nation, the first to do so in over 30 years. That's sparked concern from the Houthis, who have threatened to attack any Israeli presence in Somaliland.
This frame grab from video broadcast by Saudi state television on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025, shows what the kingdom describes as a shipment of weapons and armored vehicles coming from the United Arab Emirates, at Mukalla, Yemen. (Saudi state television via AP)
