PITTSBURGH -- Ben Roethlisberger did everything perfectly. The fake spike that momentarily fooled the Dallas Cowboys. The perfect lob to Antonio Brown that gave the Pittsburgh Steelers the lead and appeared to be the perfect jolt they needed to jumpstart a sagging season.Only one problem: There was too much time. Far too much. The sense of joy lasted all of 31 seconds, or the time it took the Cowboys to go 75 yards, the final 32 on Ezekiel Elliotts dash to the end zone that gave Dallas a 35-30 victory and sent Pittsburgh to its fourth straight loss.Soaring in October, the Steelers (4-5) are sinking as Thanksgiving approaches. Not even 408 yards and three touchdowns from Roethlisberger, 154 yards receiving by Brown and 134 total yards and two scores by LeVeon Bell could prevent another baffling breakdown.We are undisciplined and not accountable, Roethlisberger said. Thats why they are one of the best in the business and we are not right now.Certainly not the way theyre playing, particularly on defense. Twice in the fourth quarter Pittsburgh was one stop away from ending the Cowboys seven-game winning streak. And twice the Steelers offered little resistance as Dallas rookies Dak Prescott and Elliott did whatever they wanted, hardly bothered by the largest crowd to watch a Steelers home game in club history.Two drives. Both 75 yards. Both ending with Elliott racing across the goal line and a series of black-and-gold clad defenders futilely giving chase.It sucks losing regardless, but especially in critical moments of the game when theyre getting big plays and youre trying to do everything you can to stop them, linebacker Ryan Shazier said. This one really stings a lot.Expected to be in the thick of the AFC race thanks to one of the most talented offenses in the league, the Steelers arent even in first in an underwhelming AFC North. They will head to winless Cleveland next week hoping to end their longest losing streak since dropping the first four games of the 2013 season.Its just unacceptable, defensive end Cam Heyward said.Roethlisberger played poorly last week in his return from left knee surgery, a dismal loss in Baltimore, but told his teammates to follow me with a chance to prove themselves against the NFLs hottest team. While there were moments of brilliance, each one appeared to be met with an equally boneheaded step backward.After Roethlisberger hit Eli Rogers for a 3-yard touchdown in the first quarter to give the Steelers an early 12-3 lead, a pair of Cowboy penalties put Dallas into a first-and-25 hole. No matter. Two plays later Elliott took a screen pass, picked up a couple of blocks and ran 83 yards to put Dallas right back in it.Bell stretched the ball into the end zone from 1 yard out with 7:51 left to give the Steelers a 24-23 advantage. Dallas went 75 yards in 10 plays, ending with Elliotts 14-yard dash with 1:55 left.Roethlisberger calmly took the Steelers right back down the field and channeled his inner Dan Marino with the clock running and the ball at the Dallas 15. The quarterback took the snap and pretended to ground the ball. Instead he held on to it and hit a streaking Brown for a touchdown that again gave Pittsburgh a one-point advantage.You take a lead so it feels pretty good, Roethlisberger said.Fleeting too. Prescott moved the Cowboys into field goal range helped by a 15-yard facemask penalty on Steelers rookie safety Sean Davis.It was a critical time, Davis said. When seconds go by I was just trying to get him down, poke the ball, grab something and he just ducked. Once I felt my fingers in his facemask I let go.Control of the game followed suit. Instead of settling for a long field goal attempt, the Cowboys instead kept plowing ahead with Elliott going 32 yards right up the middle for the deciding score.We can sit here and say its a great learning example, but learning doesnt get you wins, Heyward said. Were no longer allowed to keep doing that.Not if they want to salvage what once looked like a promising year.TWO MUCH?The Steelers set an NFL record last year by converting eight 2-point conversions, some of them in nontraditional situations early in the game. They went 0 for 4 on Sunday, chasing points all afternoon after they botched a pair of attempts in the first quarter.We want to be aggressive, Roethlisberger said. We practice it every day. We need to be better at it.INJURIESBackup linebacker Steven Johnson left in the first quarter with a broken ankle. Backup safety Shamarko Thomas exited with a groin injury.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Peyton Manning Youth Jersey . 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Hargreaves began his career in 2008 with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and has played with the Edmonton Eskimos and last season with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. CHICAGO -- Grown men didnt weep.Maybe because anyone old enough to actually remember the last time the Chicago Cubs made it to the World Series would be at least 71 and know enough to stay home instead of parking himself in the middle of the pandemonium that engulfed Wrigley Field late Saturday.Not so 78-year-old Billy Williams, a Hall of Famer and Cubs mainstay through the 1960s and `70s. This was a moment he had to see for himself.I think about the guys I played with who never got to see this, Williams began. Especially Ernie Banks and (Ron) Santo. Man, we tried so hard for so many years and now theyre gone. ... And I cant tell you how long these fans stuck with us or how many times I heard stuff like, `This is the year.But this, he said with a sweep of his arm toward the still-rocking grandstand, is finally the year.After believing their team was cursed by a goat, crossed by a black cat and undone by one of their own, after checking their sanity at the turnstiles for seven decades and counting, fans of the team on the North Side of town no longer needed any excuses . None needed reminding, either, that there was one hill still left to climb, starting Tuesday night in Cleveland.But at the moment, a white flag with a single blue W fluttered in the night sky atop the huge, manually operated scoreboard in center field -- a tradition begun in the 1930s so that riders on the nearby elevated train line would know when the Cubs won -- and their fans basked in its possibilities.They win 100-plus games (in the regular season), they really have no weaknesses, theyve got youth, veteran starting pitching ... they catch the baseball, they can slug, they get on base, and theyre relentless, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said afterward, by way of a scouting report.Thats a very good club over there.You couldnt have said that just seven years ago, when owner Tom Ricketts forked over $875 million of the familys fortune to buy the ballclub and that faith was tested mightily. Normally a level-headed sort, he fell in love with the Cubs soon after moving to the city as an 18-year-old to attend the University of Chicago. The Cubs went 83-78 in Ricketts first year, then posted five losing seasons in a row.In 2011, he shellled out good money to hire onetime Red Sox boy wonder Theo Epstein to rebuild the roster as president of baseball operations; the next year, the Cubs lost 101 games.dddddddddddd But with Epstein pulling the strings, they also began collecting youngsters like Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell and Kris Bryant, occasionally mixing in high-priced veteran pitchers like Jon Lester and John Lackey and turning around Jake Arrietas career.In 2015, Ricketts shelled out good money again to hire manager Joe Maddon; last season, they were swept by the Mets in the NLCS. The cornerstone of Maddons baseball philosophy is focus on the short term; try to win each at-bat, each inning, each game. He pulls stunts to make it fun -- bringing in zoo animals, wearing pajamas on the flight home from road trips and breaking up the monotony of a long season.But even he struggled on this night not to look back.You stand out on that platform afterwards and youre looking at the ballpark and the fans and the W flags everywhere, and truthfully you think about everybody, Maddon said. I think about the fans and their parents and their grandparents and great-grandparents and everything thats been going on here for a while. I think about my wife, Jaye, my kids, my mom back in Pennsylvania, my dad who wasnt here.Its overwhelming, he added finally, and its awesome.The Cubs last won it all in 1908, which means theyve been without a championship 40 years longer than the Indians, holders of the second-longest run without a championship in major North American pro sports. They may be the sentimental favorites, but theyre also savvy, ruthless and blessed with short memories -- basically, anything but your fathers Cubbies.Ditto for the owner. Asked what it would feel like to see that same flag fly at the end of the World Series, Ricketts admitted he already had his eye on a souvenir. It was likely to be more painful than expensive.I may make the `W a tattoo, he said.He wont be alone.---Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke(at)ap.org and https://Twitter.com/JimLitke . ' ' '