Steelers vs. Vikings Review

Well, I was wrong. I said that the Vikings would win and they did not. I am always happy when I predict the Steelers to lose and I am wrong. I think I may predict them to lose the rest of the season and be pleasantly surprised when they win.

What I thought was interesting was that the 2008 Steelers beat the 2009 Vikings today. And it was weird. Because these are the 2009 Steelers. I wasn't quite sure how to react.

The Good:

1. Well, we won. That's awesome.
2. We defeated the undefeated Vikings, arguably one of the best teams in the league, to say nothing of the NFC.
3. We held Adrian Peterson in check, for the most part. Any time we face an elite running back, we shut him down as a runner, but seem to forget about him when he becomes a receiver. Obviously, there was no defense for the play that the announcers gushed about in the fourth quarter, where William Gay failed to rise above his name. But, really, you still need to keep your eyes on the most explosive playmaker in the NFL wherever he goes. If he becomes a receiver, he's actually more dangerous, because he's already in the open field where he can do a ton of damage. But, we contained him as a running back. Which was key.
4. MAN, did the defense come through. The entire fourth quarter, I felt like a poor kid at Christmas. I felt as though I was going to get what I wanted, but didn't really believe that it was going to happen. In 2008, I would've been confident that someone was going to make a play to pull it off. In 2009, I was like a poor kid at Christmas.
5. Well, Tiny Tim threw away his crutches, walked, then did a double-back-flip-somersault and vaulted right to his XBox 360 and played Rock Band while listening to his 32-gig iPod touch. Wow. Just, wow. Just a very impressive performance by the defense in the fourth quarter.

The Bad:

1. We choked in the red zone. Big time. We ended up with two field goals and a turnover in three trips to the red zone. Without two defensive touchdowns, that comes back to kill us.
2. We seemed unable to throw anything but a screen pass in the first half. Until that last drive at the two minute warning, Ben had 12 attempts and 35 yards passing. That's abysmal.
3. Rashard Medenhall had a crucial fumble. Again. He's looked great at times and he appears to be the running back of the future, but he really needs to get his fumble issues in check.
4. How many pre-snap penalties did we have on offense and defense? A hundred? It sure seemed like it.
5. We didn't make strong adjustments at halftime. If the Vikings hadn't gift-wrapped two fourth quarter defensive touchdowns to us, we would have lost (I know that's like saying "if you hadn't done that thing that made you win, we wouldn't have lost," but it's still true.)

The Ugly:

1. We didn't take advantage of superior field position in the first half.
2. Our coverage units -- I know the announcers called out Jeff Reed, but everyone was to blame for Percy Harvin's touchdown return -- are not good. We need to work on that.
3. Our return game isn't much better. I know that I've been critical of Stefan Logan all season, but there's a good reason for that. He's been absolutely terrible. The field position swing that we were looking for when we kept Logan on the team depends on Vulva punting better than Bitch Merger, but it also depends on Logan averaging more than two yards a return. And not fair catching inside the ten yard line. And, generally, not sucking. He has failed to not suck thus far. And that needs to improve.
4. They ran 75 plays, we ran 46. Jesus.
5. We outlasted them, we outhustled them, but they have to believe they should've won this game. And they didn't. And that will sting them. And, should we meet them in February, they will remember this. And be pissed about it.

Ultimately, though, we won and they lost. We're 5-2 and share first place with the Bengals, who currently have the tiebreaker on us and share a 1 1/2 game lead over the hated Ravens with us. We head into the bye week with a four game win streak and the (at the moment) undefeated Broncos on the horizon -- and don't think they want to beat the Defending Champs in order to prove their legitimacy -- and the division-leading Bengals after that.

It doesn't get any easier coming up, but today feels good. So let's focus on that. The Steelers won. It's a good day.

Also... my brother got engaged today! I found out at the tail end of the third quarter, so my attention was divided between the game and Weidman and I planning the bachelor party, but it's great news. Congrats, Bruddah!

We are going to kill you in New Orleans. Just know that.