The Minnesota Vikings are the favorites over the Pittsburgh Steelers, as the two teams settle into Dublin for their matchup on Sunday. While the Steelers are coming off three lackluster performances, the Vikings are hoping to keep their momentum rolling after dismantling the Cincinnati Bengals last week. Thus, former NFL DL Chris Long is feeling confident in their chances.
“I’m going to bet the Vikings profusely,” Long said on his Green Light Podcast posted Friday. “Opponents are 1 for 18, Vikings’ opponents, when sitting in third and long. So I asked Nolan to run the Steelers’ average third-down distance. You wanna know what it is? Third and long. Third and 7.4”
Until the Steelers are clicking on all cylinders offensively, they’re going to find themselves in plenty more third and long situations, as they have over the course of the first three weeks. The Steelers just aren’t running the ball well, which is essential on first and second down to make third downs more manageable. Then, once they get into third and long, the offensive line isn’t doing a good enough job protecting Rodgers. That’s resulted in sacks, throwaways and checkdowns, none of which are doing much to keep drives alive.
Things get even tougher for the Steelers against a Vikings’ defense that just had one of the better defensive games in recent memory. They forced five turnovers from the Cincinnati Bengals, and took two back for a touchdown. Long mentions how good they’ve been on third and long as well. Pittsburgh is going to have to play it’s most complete offensive game yet to have a chance.
Defensively, the Steelers have some problems of their own. One is an inability to stop the run. However, Long does think that could improve this week.
“I’m kind of falling into the trap of believing that like, Cam Heyward and those guys are gonna be really pissed off this week, and stop the run,” Long said.
To give the Steelers their credit, they were better in this regard last week. No New England Patriots’ running back picked up 30 yards on the ground. The Steelers did well to stop the traditional rushing attack. Yet, they did still give up 119 yards on the day, most of them coming from Drake Maye having to scramble.
The Vikings are potentially the toughest team the Steelers have seen so far this year. Pittsburgh needs to play it’s best game this season to walk out of Croke Park with a win.
