The Pittsburgh Steelers kept swinging for two-point tries and missing. Mike Tomlin's team failed on four two-point attempts in Sunday's 35-30 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
Chasing the points early changed the complexion of the game late, forcing both teams to try a combined six two-point tries on the night, all of which failed.
"We want to be aggressive," Tomlin said, via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "That's not out of line with our personality. Not only recently, but in recent years."
The decision to go for two early set the stage. After the first fail, Pittsburgh was in makeup-mode, but couldn't connect. Had Tomlin kicked from the start, the tenure of the game could have changed.
Steelers players, however, didn't believe chasing the points was the reason they lost.
"It didn't really cost us," tight end Jesse James said. "We had a chance to win. We had our shot, and we didn't follow through.
"Obviously (the lack of conversions) kind of cost us today, but at the same time, the way we look at it is we had our shot to win and we didn't stick it."
The Steelers became the first team to try at least four two-point conversions without converting any since the two-point attempt was introduced to NFL in 1994.
The six two-point tries between Pittsburgh and Dallas tied for the second most combined two-point attempts in a game (7 in Week 14, 2013 between Detroit and Philadelphia).
Tomlin's team was 14 for 17 on two-point attempts over the past three seasons before Sunday's 0-for.