The pain wasn't unbearable for Pittsburgh's leading rusher. However, the thought of missing the AFC playoffs might have been too much to handle.
Mendenhall injured his right knee in the first quarter Sunday and had to watch the Steelers stumble their way to a 13-9 win over the Cleveland Browns, who kept it close but again couldn't come up with the big play to pull off the upset.
Isaac Redman replaced Mendenhall and scored a touchdown, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger made enough big plays on his fragile left ankle and the Steelers (12-4) survived a last-play heave through the falling snow and into the end zone to beat the Browns (4-12) for the 16th time in 17 games.
Pittsburgh didn't get the help it needed to get a first-round bye and will travel to Denver to face Tim Tebow and the Broncos next Sunday.
And the Steelers will likely be without Mendenhall, who went down after a 5-yard gain in the first quarter and didn't return.
"It's not good, of course, when a guy goes down in open grass and is not touched by anyone," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "Experience tells me that in general that's not good."
Tomlin said Mendenhall would have tests after the team got back to Pittsburgh. But the Steelers already seemed resigned to not having Mendenhall for their wild-card game – or maybe at all.
"You should anticipate that he won't be participating next week," Tomlin said.
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