Vikings at Steelers Game Wrap: Purple Comes Crashing Back to Earth
Joe Oberle
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The Vikings went on the road to Pittsburgh in their first away game of the season, and things started out badly and quickly got worse for the team. The Vikings learned before the game that quarterback Sam Bradford was deactivated for the game with a balky knee that he injured last week. Backup Case Keenum took over and did his level best, but the result was a disappointing 26-9 loss that dropped the Vikings to 1-1 on the season and out of first place in the NFC North.
Penalties and an ineffective offense were the story of the game for Minnesota, as the in fractions extended Steelers’ drives and short-circuited Vikings’ drives. The Vikings couldn’t get anything going on the ground and the passing game looked very little like what we saw last Monday night.
“Offensively, we didn’t get much done in the first part of the ballgame,” head coach Mike Zimmer told KFAN radio. “Then we made some mistakes defensively—jumped offsides on fourth down—we had some penalties that hurt us. It’s tough to win when you do things like that.”
It’s back to work for the Vikings who welcome the Tamp Bay Buccaneers to U.S. Bank Stadium next Sunday. The Bucs, who had their first game postponed by Hurricane Irma, whipped up on the Chicago Bears in week two, and they will be ready to battle Vikings next week.
Trending
Case Keenum got the start for the injured Sam Bradford on Sunday, and he did okay considering the position he was put in. Unfortunately, okay wasn’t good enough to get the job done. Keenum was alternately good (completing passes under duress) and not so good (getting the ball out late and missing some open receivers in position to move the chains). Keenum didn’t always have the necessary time he needed to operate (see below), but in the final analysis, he didn’t play well enough to keep his offensive unit on the field and win the game. His numbers were 20 of 37 for 167 yards and a 65.9 quarterback rating. Get well soon, Sam.
“He battled,” Zimmer said of Keenum. “He was under a lot of duress. That’s a good defensive team; they give you a lot of different looks, exotic pressures. We didn’t get the running game going until later on, so that kind of hurt the passing game, as well.”
Xavier Rhodes drew the tough assignment of guarding Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown all afternoon and he did a great job all tolled. At halftime, Brown had three catches on eight targets for 28 yards. So in the second half, the Steelers started running Brown in the slot so he could line up with linebackers rather than Rhodes. It was a good strategy, as Brown’s numbers improved to game totals of five catches on 11 targets for 62 yards. Rhodes won the day, however, keeping Brown out of the endzone and giving his team a chance—a chance the offensive couldn’t capitalize on.
Perhaps we need to tap the brakes on the offensive line being totally fixed. Last Monday the unit kept the Saints defense off of Bradford all evening and garnered praise this past week—even from Terry Bradshaw before the game today. Keenum didn’t find the same amount of time afforded Bradford. The Steelers are a better defensive team than the Saints, and that showed on Sunday. But the offensive line had its own struggles. Left guard Nick Easton had a bad game of penalties committed and blocks missed. Both tackles whiffed at times, leading to hits (six) and sacks (two) on the Vikings quarterback. This unit has to improve no matter who is calling plays, or we may end up seeing Teddy Bridgewater sooner than expected.
Worth Defending
The defense battled hard in Pittsburgh, but mistakes hurt them. Far too often a penalty cost them a big play, field position and, eventually, a score. The defense took care of Brown and even bottled up Le’Veon bell, keeping both out of the endzone, and forced the Steelers to kick a lot of field goals rather than touchdowns. But the team obviously can’t give up 26 points on the road and expect to win. Everson Griffen had two sacks (which are hard to get against Ben Roethlisberger), but the highlights for the defense were too few and far between to get the win.
“We did alright defensively, third downs were good, but we just gave up too many plays, and you can’t do that,” Zimmer said. “You keep giving them opportunities, and eventually they’re going to break through.”
It’s not time to jump off the Dalvin Cook bandwagon just yet. After his great game last week in the opener, Cook was held in check behind a line that simply didn’t provide him any running room. Cook did manage 64 yards on 12 carries (for an average of 5.3 yards per carry) and had one run outside that he took down to the one-inch line (in my estimation). Originally called a touchdown, the play was inexplicably overturned on replay and fullback C.J. Hamm got the score on the next play. Cook caught two passes on three targets for zero yards, but his one drop could have been a big play. Cook will have better games, but he is going to need a little more from the blockers in front of him.
Vikings wideout Laquon Treadwell has certainly garnered his share of derision from observers and fans for only grabbing one pass last season as a rookie. Well, he finally had an impact on the game for the team, as he grabbed three catches (on six targets) for 33 yards in the game. It still isn’t a stats line worthy of writing home about, but it deserves mention here. Hopefully, Treadwell’s confidence grows and his role increases in the weeks to come.
Should be Ending
Penalties hurt. That’s not a huge revelation, but the Vikings made it painfully obvious against the Steelers. In the first quarter of the game, the Vikings had the Steelers offense in a 4th-and-1 yard situation. Big Ben channeled Aaron Rodgers and drew the Vikings offside when one of the most experienced players on the team (Brian Robison) jumped and extended the drive. A few plays later, cornerback Xavier Rhodes gets called for pass interference penalty and it eventually lead to a Pittsburgh touchdown.
On their next defensive series, Trae Waynes was called for pass interference and the 49-yard infraction led to the Steelers second score. In the second half, an illegal formation by the defense on a field goal turned a missed kick and great field position into a made kick for Pittsburgh. On the whole, the Vikings chalked up 11 penalties for 131 yards, which is bad any way you look at it, but especially troublesome on the road against a team such as the Steelers.
Touchdown celebrations that are not spontaneous and scripted out are often silly. Case in point was the one-act play of the dice game that Martavis Bryant’s choreographed in the endzone after the Steelers’ first score. I get it, the Vikings gambled and lost on the play. But the TD celebration resulted in a delay of game penalty for Pittsburgh and they had to kick the PAT rather than go for two points. While I understand that the celebration restriction rules have been lifted to a degree and the players are going to take advantage of it, the choreographed “cellies” are silly to say the least. If they cost your team points, well it goes without saying how lame they can be.
Special teams hurt the Vikings on Sunday. The fake punt was poorly executed and came at a time when the Vikings could not afford to dig a deeper hole. The defense did hold the line afterward, but the fake punt could have put the game away early in the second half. Strange call and bad execution.
Add to that another missed extra point by Kai Forbath and a penalty on a field goal by the Steelers that resulted in three points for the opposition, and the special teams unit had a poor afternoon. None of the plays were the reason for the loss, but they certainly didn’t help the Vikings’ effort. Special teams don’t always win games, but they shouldn’t contribute to losing them. Special teams won’t be a good room to be in this week at Winter Park.
“[The fake punt] didn’t work, but I am going to continue to stay aggressive and try to give us every opportunity to win football games,” Zimmer told KFAN after the game. “We weren’t moving the football very good at that point and we were down 10, so I thought, ‘what the heck, let’s do it.’”